Yesterday there were so few people in the DC that we closed early. I got back by 9pm, which was nice. There were so few people that I managed to keep the salad bars relative free of spilt dressing and stray vegetable and YES THAT EVEN MEANS THE SHREDDED CARROTS! Let this day be remembered as the day of victory against shredded carrots. It was a moment of triumph for all salad bar runners (more of a walker, last night, actually) everywhere.
Entire issue with the people who were suppose to replace me this weekend not being able to, either with premotion or food poisoning, but it wasn't my fault and no one yelled at me because the management was reasonable and knew it wasn't my fault, so everything's fine and this replacement shift:
Wednesday 4:30-9:00pm
Is canceled for me. Yay.
Also, Lucy, I'm back partially because I had to work last night and finding a replacement for yourself THREE nights in a row (as seen by my issues with findin people for two nights in a row) is astronomically difficult. Add in the factor that I have a midterm tomorrow and I still have no memorized the classifications and examples of viruses I figured: one extra day at school? I'm gonna need it.
We have a new hairnet rule which states that all people who comes near the food, so long that the cap can't COMPLETELY cover your hair, will need a hair net. Let me mention that guys look really strange in hairnets. On an entirely different topic, apparently guys do make jokes about relationships with their guy friends and possibly having their biologically impossible babies. Either that or it's just the people from work and I need to find a different group to observe.
First-
-Time to play the psychiatrist to a complete stranger. Who's probably in his early forties and is apparently having a very bad day on in a horrible life and randomly started ranting to me while I was wiping down the salad bar with the sanitizer solution. But he smiled before the end of the shift, so it was alright, and he felt bad about the whole thing so when we're ending the night he came by, rinsed out all the dirty towels in the kitchen that I was cleaning, and took them to the dish room for me, which was very good of him.
I saw him as I was leaving. He smiled at me and said, "Take care."
Perhaps this is even a greater accomplishment than the victory against shredded carrots.
I still don't know his name but, right now, I don't think it matters.
20060220
20060219
Recap: Untitled2
Meanwhile, back to Davis...
This is my work schedule, as I'm aware of it at this moment, for the next...oh 7-8 days.
Sunday (tonight) 4-9:30pm
Wednesday 4:30-9:00pm (though may last to 9:30, I'm not sure)
Friday 5:30-8:30
Saturday 4:30-9:30
Sunday (next) 4-9:30
As far as I know, that means aside from my Friday's shift, which ends early, I won't be online at my now-established 9-10-ness on all the other work days.
Amount of school email is scary.
Still need to do laundry.
On the other hand (though, it could be on the same hand, depending on how you look at it), I've obtained my parents permission to take classes at De Anza this summer. Not to transfer to Davis, because of all the transferable classes, the only ones I've got left are those that you need to take the entire series at one school (meaning you can't take A at Davis, then B at De Anza). I'll be taking random things. For the sake of my well-established masochistic tendencies.
My to-do list for this summer (and sadly enough, yes I already do have one) is getting WAY too long.
Still shorter than my to-read list though.
This is my work schedule, as I'm aware of it at this moment, for the next...oh 7-8 days.
Sunday (tonight) 4-9:30pm
Wednesday 4:30-9:00pm (though may last to 9:30, I'm not sure)
Friday 5:30-8:30
Saturday 4:30-9:30
Sunday (next) 4-9:30
As far as I know, that means aside from my Friday's shift, which ends early, I won't be online at my now-established 9-10-ness on all the other work days.
Amount of school email is scary.
Still need to do laundry.
On the other hand (though, it could be on the same hand, depending on how you look at it), I've obtained my parents permission to take classes at De Anza this summer. Not to transfer to Davis, because of all the transferable classes, the only ones I've got left are those that you need to take the entire series at one school (meaning you can't take A at Davis, then B at De Anza). I'll be taking random things. For the sake of my well-established masochistic tendencies.
My to-do list for this summer (and sadly enough, yes I already do have one) is getting WAY too long.
Still shorter than my to-read list though.
20060218
Recap: Untitled
Beautiful day. Cold, but still nice.
I wonder what it will be like to not think about academics for 24 hours, but somehow, I don't think my mind can quite manage it.
Maybe more later but if not, then that's it. Over and out.
I wonder what it will be like to not think about academics for 24 hours, but somehow, I don't think my mind can quite manage it.
Maybe more later but if not, then that's it. Over and out.
20060217
Recap: Home for the holidays
[13:15]
I am writing this on a train, as in I am on a train and I am writing this. There is no internet connection which is why I'm typing this up in wordpad, then posting it later. Also, the train is making me somewhat sleepy. Then again, that may be just because I want to sleep.
Oh, and I'm taking the train home this weekend, just in case the train-thing seemed random. No, I have not developed a sudden affection for trains, though looking at the countryside this way is rather nice and crossing the bay on the train is very awesome.
Today is also very cold in Davis, but from what I heard from my parents (and soon to be found out first hand), it is a bit like that every where. But, Davis, since I've experienced that already: the snow elevation's at one thousand feet and from 8AM, when I had chem, to 10AM, when I returned, it had actually gotten COLDER. Yes, my friends, it has gotten chillier and before I left for the train station I put on a sweat shirt over my sweater and then put on the black jacket that you all are probably very familiar with. I did not wear the sweatshirt while biking back from my class and actually felt like I was freezing.
Strangely though, this weekend (as I went through downtown on my way to the station) is apparently when all the trees start to bloom (sorry Kate, but you missed it). I meant all the trees that flower in the spring were, for some reason, flowering on this God-forsakenly cold day, so that parts of the campus looks...white and fluffy, which aren't words I'd generally associate with a university, but you'll have to trust me on this one.
But, ye gods, did I mention how cold it was?
First-
Trip home from college by myself. As you can see, my independence was clearly defined by that jar of jam.
All hail the jam.
[edit 15:57]
Around the region of Fremont, the conductor announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, if you will look toward your forward left you’ll see a big bunch of snow.”
So I looked forward left, toward where the hills are annnnd there was a big bunch of snow.
This is officially in folks, it’s not the Sacramento region that’s suddenly experiencing a cold snap (the carpet in my house is ICY!)
Also, someone have moved into my room while I’m away. Many someones, in fact, that are getting into the wood. So it’s another round of phone calling for me.
[Edit 16:13]
Finished round of phone calling. First two numbers my father supplied were wrong and the people were non-too happy about being disturbed. Phobia conquered in the year 06: 1. Public speaking. 2. Talking to irate strangers.
It’s been a very productive year, and it’s only February.
Parasites. Right over my window. Nice.
Good to know that lives go on without me. Ha ha oh GOD that was bad.
I am writing this on a train, as in I am on a train and I am writing this. There is no internet connection which is why I'm typing this up in wordpad, then posting it later. Also, the train is making me somewhat sleepy. Then again, that may be just because I want to sleep.
Oh, and I'm taking the train home this weekend, just in case the train-thing seemed random. No, I have not developed a sudden affection for trains, though looking at the countryside this way is rather nice and crossing the bay on the train is very awesome.
Today is also very cold in Davis, but from what I heard from my parents (and soon to be found out first hand), it is a bit like that every where. But, Davis, since I've experienced that already: the snow elevation's at one thousand feet and from 8AM, when I had chem, to 10AM, when I returned, it had actually gotten COLDER. Yes, my friends, it has gotten chillier and before I left for the train station I put on a sweat shirt over my sweater and then put on the black jacket that you all are probably very familiar with. I did not wear the sweatshirt while biking back from my class and actually felt like I was freezing.
Strangely though, this weekend (as I went through downtown on my way to the station) is apparently when all the trees start to bloom (sorry Kate, but you missed it). I meant all the trees that flower in the spring were, for some reason, flowering on this God-forsakenly cold day, so that parts of the campus looks...white and fluffy, which aren't words I'd generally associate with a university, but you'll have to trust me on this one.
But, ye gods, did I mention how cold it was?
First-
Trip home from college by myself. As you can see, my independence was clearly defined by that jar of jam.
All hail the jam.
[edit 15:57]
Around the region of Fremont, the conductor announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, if you will look toward your forward left you’ll see a big bunch of snow.”
So I looked forward left, toward where the hills are annnnd there was a big bunch of snow.
This is officially in folks, it’s not the Sacramento region that’s suddenly experiencing a cold snap (the carpet in my house is ICY!)
Also, someone have moved into my room while I’m away. Many someones, in fact, that are getting into the wood. So it’s another round of phone calling for me.
[Edit 16:13]
Finished round of phone calling. First two numbers my father supplied were wrong and the people were non-too happy about being disturbed. Phobia conquered in the year 06: 1. Public speaking. 2. Talking to irate strangers.
It’s been a very productive year, and it’s only February.
Parasites. Right over my window. Nice.
Good to know that lives go on without me. Ha ha oh GOD that was bad.
20060216
Recap: Untitled
I need to find the time to sit down and read a book. In all honesty, not reading something that is not textbook or reader or handouts for this long is starting to make me twitchy, and the only time I can think of where I may be able to do it is while traveling between Davis and Cupertino (more than an hour! More than two hours of time on a Friday!) but there is, of course no way that either one of my parents will let me read in a car. Though motion sickness is not an issue, they do have good reasons.
I am desperate enough to consider audiobooks. Yep, that's how bad it is.
I am desperate enough to consider audiobooks. Yep, that's how bad it is.
20060215
Recap: Pomology entomology
Half way through the week already. Well, almost. In any case I think that's a call for celebration so I might actually go and take a break and wander around campus or something...except I have a quiz tomorrow and I still need to see what the deal is with genetic mutation of west nile virus (someone remind me to scan in a page of my biology case study book here at the end of the year, the stuff in it is...hard core. I mean we get the actual DNA sequence of the virus (which is actually a retrovirus and uses RNA, so the DNA is the complementary strand to the RNA) and have to compare the base-pair mutations).
Chemistry suddenly retrogressed back to anions and cations, leaving me to wonder at the inconsistencies of the book, of the professor, of life in general. It was a philosophical moment.
Chemistry suddenly retrogressed back to anions and cations, leaving me to wonder at the inconsistencies of the book, of the professor, of life in general. It was a philosophical moment.
20060214
Recap: Untitled
The trend with the not-relaxing Tuesdays continues and by the way, said my biology professor, you guys have a mid term next Tuesday, so hopefully you've been thinking about that.
Hopefully.
Nothing too interesting as of now. Mostly just short on time and trying to keep up with the scheduling. Ah college. Not so much with the prophetic soul.
[edit 18:54]
When I was walking down to dinner, I past by these two girls who were obviously trying to get a guy's attention. Thinking nothing of this, I continued walking past until the girls started to get more verbal by calling the guy's name.
"Mike! Hey Mike! MICHAEL!" One girl screamed.
At which point I sort of started cracking up and had to walk away very quickly as to avoid a trip to the mental hospital.
Hopefully.
Nothing too interesting as of now. Mostly just short on time and trying to keep up with the scheduling. Ah college. Not so much with the prophetic soul.
[edit 18:54]
When I was walking down to dinner, I past by these two girls who were obviously trying to get a guy's attention. Thinking nothing of this, I continued walking past until the girls started to get more verbal by calling the guy's name.
"Mike! Hey Mike! MICHAEL!" One girl screamed.
At which point I sort of started cracking up and had to walk away very quickly as to avoid a trip to the mental hospital.
20060213
Recap: 360 seconds
Hello Monday, nice to meet you too. Again.
Let's see...workload's increasing significantly this week, academics not withstanding since apparently I have two midterms next week. Chemistry and biology. Same week. Well that should be fun. (Yes, notice the trend with sarcasm, I really cannot tune it down right now.) Possibly need to spend more time on homework during the weekdays this week so when I go home for the weekends I won't have to lug all my textbooks and notebooks with me which, I can tell you from experience, is actually pretty heavy if you have to get it up and down stairs. So--cheers, to the start of another week!
And the ongoing war against shredded carrots continues. I'm sad to say that I think the carrots are winning.
Let's see...workload's increasing significantly this week, academics not withstanding since apparently I have two midterms next week. Chemistry and biology. Same week. Well that should be fun. (Yes, notice the trend with sarcasm, I really cannot tune it down right now.) Possibly need to spend more time on homework during the weekdays this week so when I go home for the weekends I won't have to lug all my textbooks and notebooks with me which, I can tell you from experience, is actually pretty heavy if you have to get it up and down stairs. So--cheers, to the start of another week!
And the ongoing war against shredded carrots continues. I'm sad to say that I think the carrots are winning.
20060212
Recap: Lights
Lantern festival today. Of course the dorm's not going to let anyone have an open flame of any sort. I'm considering leaving my flashlight (perhaps with a coloured paper covering the bulb end) on all night and have Molly conclude that I'm insane. But she probably does that already so I don't suppose there's a worry there.
It's sort of funny, because I think I'm making her feel bad since whenever she comes back during the weekdays, I'm nearly always in the room (when I don't have classes) studying. She's started trying to study during the day time too but it is a task that takes a lot of practice and even more amount of patience.
Maybe more later. Or if not, out for now.
It's sort of funny, because I think I'm making her feel bad since whenever she comes back during the weekdays, I'm nearly always in the room (when I don't have classes) studying. She's started trying to study during the day time too but it is a task that takes a lot of practice and even more amount of patience.
Maybe more later. Or if not, out for now.
20060211
Recap: Cheers to getting off work early
It means I remembered having not made a blog post yet today. It also means we have to work twice as hard while we're there to get off early. It means exhausion but also the greatness of getting home early on a Saturday.
Thank you, Yusuke, for covering my Saturday night shift.
Thank you, Jackie, for covering my Friday night shift.
I will not get in any trouble with management at work so long that I get back by Sunday next week.
Also, during tonight's shift, I learned Polish from Jackie, who's Polish by ethnicity. Polish sounded somewhat like Russian (meaning I was mispronouncing almost everything, but Jackie did not seem to mind because I was amusing her so much). Also, learning Polish when you're working at the 1st/2nd busiest kitchen at the DC during a night shift...Gary, I blame you, entirely. Yes.
Kate came and visited me today at Davis, also, thereby claiming the dubious honour of being the first friend to visit me there. This sadly involved too much walking so her back is probably staging a protest some times about now. With petition forms and signs and acronyms. Also, for future references, the painkiller that I DO have is Ibuprofen (I kept thinking Buprofron for some reason, but that obviously was not it, nor is it even a word).
Thank you, Yusuke, for covering my Saturday night shift.
Thank you, Jackie, for covering my Friday night shift.
I will not get in any trouble with management at work so long that I get back by Sunday next week.
Also, during tonight's shift, I learned Polish from Jackie, who's Polish by ethnicity. Polish sounded somewhat like Russian (meaning I was mispronouncing almost everything, but Jackie did not seem to mind because I was amusing her so much). Also, learning Polish when you're working at the 1st/2nd busiest kitchen at the DC during a night shift...Gary, I blame you, entirely. Yes.
Kate came and visited me today at Davis, also, thereby claiming the dubious honour of being the first friend to visit me there. This sadly involved too much walking so her back is probably staging a protest some times about now. With petition forms and signs and acronyms. Also, for future references, the painkiller that I DO have is Ibuprofen (I kept thinking Buprofron for some reason, but that obviously was not it, nor is it even a word).
20060210
Recap: Light in February
When entering the classroom for chem discussion today, I find myself completely alone in a dark room. Given my previous experiences this month, my first reaction was: Did I miss something in the schedule, AGAIN? But while entering I recalled seeing one of the guys from my discussion session (by the way, chem sessions=periods where the TAs, i.e. Teacher's Aid or Teacher's Assistant, hands out practice problems for you to do and go over main concepts covered this week) arriving so that was marginally reassuring.
Marginally.
And then people from the discussion showed up. Which was much more reassuring. At this point we are still standing in a large-ish, very much dark room, and I thought that I should probably turn the light on before people stumble around anymore than they're already doing. The only problem is that I don't know where the light switches are so--sidling around the walls of the chem room, attempting to find the light switch, I came across three switches that looked like likely candidates. Before I reached out and actually flipped them the other direction, I remembered Lusine's story with the calc room from last year, and looked around somewhat warily. There were no computers in the room. The only thing that was plugged in was a projector which is off anyway. Seemed okay, so I flipped the switches.
And all the lights actually went on.
The horror the horror. Hey it's Friday, I have to write SOMETHING that involves a climax, however minimal.
No, not really. More like just a note to myself that this is my first time in college of leaving a class early because the person in charge wasn't here.
Marginally.
And then people from the discussion showed up. Which was much more reassuring. At this point we are still standing in a large-ish, very much dark room, and I thought that I should probably turn the light on before people stumble around anymore than they're already doing. The only problem is that I don't know where the light switches are so--sidling around the walls of the chem room, attempting to find the light switch, I came across three switches that looked like likely candidates. Before I reached out and actually flipped them the other direction, I remembered Lusine's story with the calc room from last year, and looked around somewhat warily. There were no computers in the room. The only thing that was plugged in was a projector which is off anyway. Seemed okay, so I flipped the switches.
And all the lights actually went on.
The horror the horror. Hey it's Friday, I have to write SOMETHING that involves a climax, however minimal.
No, not really. More like just a note to myself that this is my first time in college of leaving a class early because the person in charge wasn't here.
20060209
Recap: Untitled
Must do something about the amount of ants. The number of them is truly insane.
Molly is coming down with something, having spent some time each day coughing. There seems to be another strain of the flu going around as I recall the amount of coughing, sneezing, and sniffling during the bio midterm. (But it may have just been because of the 500 something people there, and the lecture hall, which seems to amply sounds.) I am growing very fond of my vitamin C pills. Ascorbic acid is a wonderful thing.
Completely unrelated (at least I bothered to warn you): I will never cease to be bothered by situations where I get the right answer, then go back and cannot remember HOW I got that answer, no matter how hard I try, and every logical answer that my mind suggests are the wrong ones.
Maybe I got it by mistake.
That is a very lucky mistake.
Those are darn lucky mistakes.
[edit 20:05]
Me, being continuously mystified by the online quizzes.
Molly is coming down with something, having spent some time each day coughing. There seems to be another strain of the flu going around as I recall the amount of coughing, sneezing, and sniffling during the bio midterm. (But it may have just been because of the 500 something people there, and the lecture hall, which seems to amply sounds.) I am growing very fond of my vitamin C pills. Ascorbic acid is a wonderful thing.
Completely unrelated (at least I bothered to warn you): I will never cease to be bothered by situations where I get the right answer, then go back and cannot remember HOW I got that answer, no matter how hard I try, and every logical answer that my mind suggests are the wrong ones.
Maybe I got it by mistake.
That is a very lucky mistake.
Those are darn lucky mistakes.
[edit 20:05]
Me, being continuously mystified by the online quizzes.
20060208
Recap: Psi squared
Progression with regards to marigold:
Mealy bug has transitioned to aphids, which have then lured a colony of ants over, who herd the aphids. The only thing, I have concluded, that is more disgusting than a plant covered with strange green clumps is a plant covered with black, moving mass.
Spring is the season of the anthropods, I tell you, and the few insects that belong in the same class as lobsters but masquerade around as anthropods anyway.
Also, Lucy, 'Nick' wears glasses. Or at least I think he does because he just randomly showed up wearing glasses yesterday. Take the sketch that you have and add lenses with squarish-frames and you get the general idea.
I feel like I ought to be doing many many things, but all of them are optional, such as studying.
Oh well, probably will go do them now anyway.
Mealy bug has transitioned to aphids, which have then lured a colony of ants over, who herd the aphids. The only thing, I have concluded, that is more disgusting than a plant covered with strange green clumps is a plant covered with black, moving mass.
Spring is the season of the anthropods, I tell you, and the few insects that belong in the same class as lobsters but masquerade around as anthropods anyway.
Also, Lucy, 'Nick' wears glasses. Or at least I think he does because he just randomly showed up wearing glasses yesterday. Take the sketch that you have and add lenses with squarish-frames and you get the general idea.
I feel like I ought to be doing many many things, but all of them are optional, such as studying.
Oh well, probably will go do them now anyway.
20060207
Recap: Limiting resource
After some deliberation while attempting to sleep last night I realized that I should stop with the 'recap' part of the recap because there're only so many hours in a day and so many minutes I can spent on writing random stuff and not end up ignoring one thing or the other, such as I have been doing.
They're far too long and far too rambling, anyhow. For instance, I might finish off yesterday's event by mentioning there's an issue with vaccination (new nurse again) which extended all the way to my titration checm lab. And I might mention that people were staring at me a bit oddly when I went to the bank this morning, but see, these two sentences did not take nearly as much room as the other posts did.
So? More time to spent other things, because there always have been other things and I daresay there always well be. Tuesday mornings not withstanding.
First-
-time making a deposit into my checking account by myself. I feel very grown up, yes. Aside from the odd looks.
They're far too long and far too rambling, anyhow. For instance, I might finish off yesterday's event by mentioning there's an issue with vaccination (new nurse again) which extended all the way to my titration checm lab. And I might mention that people were staring at me a bit oddly when I went to the bank this morning, but see, these two sentences did not take nearly as much room as the other posts did.
So? More time to spent other things, because there always have been other things and I daresay there always well be. Tuesday mornings not withstanding.
First-
-time making a deposit into my checking account by myself. I feel very grown up, yes. Aside from the odd looks.
20060206
Recap: Quicksilver
Hg used to used as a poison too, I hear.
Chemistry has taken a sudden acceleration. We went from "This is molar ratio" one day to "calculate the transitional kinetic energy" the other and now we're suddenly onto the uncertainty principle. I keep looking for the transition except, of course, there's none. After puzzling over this I concluded that it's simply a part of life: life is uncertain and random--if you can find transitions for the stages in it--well, it wouldn't be random anymore, would it?
Yesterday at work was surprisingly slow because of the superbowl (most people probably stayed in front of a TV and ordered pizza or something, but I had an incident with gloves and ceramics and salad dressing and spilt white salad dressing all over my black pants. In the salad bar. In front of many people. I think I'm destined to feel stupid continuously this year, but then again.... So afterwork I was laundering my pants in the sink and one of my floormates was looking at me funny becuase I don't think she'd ever seen any one do laundry in the sink before....
At least I did not break or injure anything, myself included. I just feel bad enough about the salad dressing that I've decided I'll never complain about shredded carrots again, even though I realized I'll be dealing with them every week from now on.
Alas, alas, it's a Monday.
[edit 9:51]
This is why we college students refer to the reg mechanism as someone would refer to a monster from hell.
Remember me complaining about how the class I took at De Anza, Elementary STatistics and probability, is suppose to be transferable for Elementary STatistics here, but the advisor told me it's not? Well I looked online at the information website that tells you which class from which college is able to replace (by transfer articulation agreement) which class from UC, Davis and I have, STA13, Elem Statistics, replaceable by MAT10, Elem Statistics and Probability, which was the class I took.
My reg starts at 12:30, I have hepB appointment at 13:30 and midterm afterwards and the department advisor won't see me unless I have an appointment and I don't know when the heck the local academic advising centre is open (but supposidely not till 15:00?)
Monday is not the best of days for me. I have a class in 5 minutes and it ends at noon. Stats. Stats. And it's a math class for what forsaken reason there is. Was.
Ah. Cheers.
[edit 11:04]
I have received credit, apparently, for STA13 on January 16th of 2006. Don't ask me why or how, I'm just glad it happened. Consequently, it means I'm done with math classes for the rest of my undergrad career.
The short version of this is me, going from local academic centre to computer (i.e. De Anza online reg system and Davis online reg system) to department advisor (more biking, yay. To the person who originally told me that MAT10 not transferable. And, dear readers, this is why I always double-check everything, it's not the fact that I don't trust you, but that I've been trained to paranoia).
Also I've found upon my initial search that they've posted the finals date for the spring classes so you can find out when they are BEFORE you register and... I have no finals (that I know of) on the 7th, 8th, or 9th of June. My first one is organic chemistry on the 10th (Saturday, but oh well, you can't have everything). I also seems to have my chem and bio final on the same day, but at this point, I'm not about to complain about anything. At all.
Happy to have solved issues in one hour with nothing worse than a tendency to talk too fast and a headache.
I have the hour because apparently the lit teacher's not done with the interviews yet so there's no class today which, for some reason, I don't ever recall being notified about which made me feel, of course, stupid (this is official now: February is my "Oh My God I'm An Idiot Month), but like I said, everything is more or less fine right now and I'm not about to complain.
Chemistry has taken a sudden acceleration. We went from "This is molar ratio" one day to "calculate the transitional kinetic energy" the other and now we're suddenly onto the uncertainty principle. I keep looking for the transition except, of course, there's none. After puzzling over this I concluded that it's simply a part of life: life is uncertain and random--if you can find transitions for the stages in it--well, it wouldn't be random anymore, would it?
Yesterday at work was surprisingly slow because of the superbowl (most people probably stayed in front of a TV and ordered pizza or something, but I had an incident with gloves and ceramics and salad dressing and spilt white salad dressing all over my black pants. In the salad bar. In front of many people. I think I'm destined to feel stupid continuously this year, but then again.... So afterwork I was laundering my pants in the sink and one of my floormates was looking at me funny becuase I don't think she'd ever seen any one do laundry in the sink before....
At least I did not break or injure anything, myself included. I just feel bad enough about the salad dressing that I've decided I'll never complain about shredded carrots again, even though I realized I'll be dealing with them every week from now on.
Alas, alas, it's a Monday.
[edit 9:51]
This is why we college students refer to the reg mechanism as someone would refer to a monster from hell.
Remember me complaining about how the class I took at De Anza, Elementary STatistics and probability, is suppose to be transferable for Elementary STatistics here, but the advisor told me it's not? Well I looked online at the information website that tells you which class from which college is able to replace (by transfer articulation agreement) which class from UC, Davis and I have, STA13, Elem Statistics, replaceable by MAT10, Elem Statistics and Probability, which was the class I took.
My reg starts at 12:30, I have hepB appointment at 13:30 and midterm afterwards and the department advisor won't see me unless I have an appointment and I don't know when the heck the local academic advising centre is open (but supposidely not till 15:00?)
Monday is not the best of days for me. I have a class in 5 minutes and it ends at noon. Stats. Stats. And it's a math class for what forsaken reason there is. Was.
Ah. Cheers.
[edit 11:04]
I have received credit, apparently, for STA13 on January 16th of 2006. Don't ask me why or how, I'm just glad it happened. Consequently, it means I'm done with math classes for the rest of my undergrad career.
The short version of this is me, going from local academic centre to computer (i.e. De Anza online reg system and Davis online reg system) to department advisor (more biking, yay. To the person who originally told me that MAT10 not transferable. And, dear readers, this is why I always double-check everything, it's not the fact that I don't trust you, but that I've been trained to paranoia).
Also I've found upon my initial search that they've posted the finals date for the spring classes so you can find out when they are BEFORE you register and... I have no finals (that I know of) on the 7th, 8th, or 9th of June. My first one is organic chemistry on the 10th (Saturday, but oh well, you can't have everything). I also seems to have my chem and bio final on the same day, but at this point, I'm not about to complain about anything. At all.
Happy to have solved issues in one hour with nothing worse than a tendency to talk too fast and a headache.
I have the hour because apparently the lit teacher's not done with the interviews yet so there's no class today which, for some reason, I don't ever recall being notified about which made me feel, of course, stupid (this is official now: February is my "Oh My God I'm An Idiot Month), but like I said, everything is more or less fine right now and I'm not about to complain.
20060205
Recap: Heavy justice
Job training yesterday was interesting, for the second session we got a lecture (an interactive one, no less) on EEO, which, as I found out, stands for Equal Employment Opportunities.
An entire lecture on diversity, on how people who are different don't get special treatment, but equal treatment, how the person who's chosen for the job has to be, in spite and not because of the differences, the best person for the job.
An entire lecture on how we should appeal to higher authority if we see something happening that shouldn't be happening. Ironically, my entire second session class was of people about my own age, who, as you might imagine, will always have some natural prejudice against authoritative figures
I have nothing against authority, but as I sat there through the hour I wondered if the lecturer realized how many of us consider "appealing to higher levels of authority" as a last resort. It's not merely the fact of losing the comradship of your coworkers/fellow students, or whatever the case may turn out to be, but it's also the fact that unavoidably, the "higher levels of authority" seldom know the problem as intimately as those who live around it. They inevitably, because of their limited time, resource, or whatever, pick the most straight forward route possible and often fail to account in all the details, the subtle factors that contribute to the final outcome, not of just this one case, but of work-relations on the long run. Justice is dealt, eventually, but then usually with a harsher word than what was strictly necessary because justice does not understand, it seems, the importance of careful observation, analysis, or tiptoeing because justice has all the subtility of--dare I say it--an blind elephant in a parlour.
Justice is not graceful, it treads heavily enough that everyone hears of its approach.
But perhaps that is for the best too, for there are enough who would heed the footfalls, large, stomping sounds that they are.
I'm sorry, that's not much of a recap, is it?
Hem. Please deal with it. If not, the exits are located somewhere the form of a little left-poiting arrow near the top left of this browser and/or at the little "x" at the top right. Thank you for visiting. You have a nice day now.
First-
-bottle of Snapple ice tea consumed. Peach flavour. I feel closer to the American culture already. Hem.
[edit 13:04]
Identified the marigold killers as mealy bugs; thanks, Ian.
As that rubbing alcohol is not readily available and that I only have 1 (maybe 2) infected plants, I suppose I'll be following the most basic control procedure: by squishing them.
[edit: 21:37]
Remembered to add, today's the day, I think, that I've set as Adriel Medon's birthday. Happy birthday, Adriel.
An entire lecture on diversity, on how people who are different don't get special treatment, but equal treatment, how the person who's chosen for the job has to be, in spite and not because of the differences, the best person for the job.
An entire lecture on how we should appeal to higher authority if we see something happening that shouldn't be happening. Ironically, my entire second session class was of people about my own age, who, as you might imagine, will always have some natural prejudice against authoritative figures
I have nothing against authority, but as I sat there through the hour I wondered if the lecturer realized how many of us consider "appealing to higher levels of authority" as a last resort. It's not merely the fact of losing the comradship of your coworkers/fellow students, or whatever the case may turn out to be, but it's also the fact that unavoidably, the "higher levels of authority" seldom know the problem as intimately as those who live around it. They inevitably, because of their limited time, resource, or whatever, pick the most straight forward route possible and often fail to account in all the details, the subtle factors that contribute to the final outcome, not of just this one case, but of work-relations on the long run. Justice is dealt, eventually, but then usually with a harsher word than what was strictly necessary because justice does not understand, it seems, the importance of careful observation, analysis, or tiptoeing because justice has all the subtility of--dare I say it--an blind elephant in a parlour.
Justice is not graceful, it treads heavily enough that everyone hears of its approach.
But perhaps that is for the best too, for there are enough who would heed the footfalls, large, stomping sounds that they are.
I'm sorry, that's not much of a recap, is it?
Hem. Please deal with it. If not, the exits are located somewhere the form of a little left-poiting arrow near the top left of this browser and/or at the little "x" at the top right. Thank you for visiting. You have a nice day now.
First-
-bottle of Snapple ice tea consumed. Peach flavour. I feel closer to the American culture already. Hem.
[edit 13:04]
Identified the marigold killers as mealy bugs; thanks, Ian.
As that rubbing alcohol is not readily available and that I only have 1 (maybe 2) infected plants, I suppose I'll be following the most basic control procedure: by squishing them.
[edit: 21:37]
Remembered to add, today's the day, I think, that I've set as Adriel Medon's birthday. Happy birthday, Adriel.
20060204
Recap: For the love of bureaucracy
I have a green slip of paper, an appointment verification, from my last hepB shot, where the nurse told me to come in anytime after Feb. 1st for my next shot and that no referral is needed because, she terms it "it's a 'self' serve' sort of thing." Meaning, I suppose, that the supplies needed for the shot were all present and in order and the only thing needed to be done was for a nurse to get a needle and stick it in my arm. Up to this point it made sense.
So, figuring that whilst taking a break from studying I'll just get over to the student health centre and get the shot yesterday, I walked over, presented the paper, and the lady (an older, more respectable matron than the one who dealt with me the last time, I might add) looked at me and asked, "Do you have an appointment?"
I glanced down at the slip of paper, which, under appointment times, said, "Any time after Feb. 1st" and replied, "Oh the last nurse told me just to come in after Feb. 1st."
She squinted at the other side of the paper, where the previous nurse had scribbled, "Bring vaccination records" because the UC system and the health center seemed to seldom be on the same page, and asked "Do you have your records with you? Your vaccination records," she added unnecessarily as I began digging throgh my backpack for the record I stuck in my agenda (which is the large kind).
Deep inhalation. I found the records and handed them to her. She looked at them over, looked at my green slip, and asked, "You're here for the hepB shot, right?"
Me, tryig not to sigh, "Yes."
Her, squinting at my records, "You've already completed the series, you're fine." Implied: You don't need more shots what the hell (this is from the expression on her face) are you doing here?
Me, thinking this is I should try to visit health centres on the same weekday every time, so I don't need to deal with new people and therefore new rules, "I didn't convert. I did a blood test and they told me I don't have the antibodies yet and that I need to get the shots again."
Her, deeply suspicious, "And did you get the blood test here?"
Me, reminding myself to be rspectful to my elders, "No, I got in Kaiser, where I was before I got enrolled here."
Her, even more suspicious because I suppose the Cowell Health Centre and Kaiser Permanente does not get along much. "Uh-huh...well you're going to need an appointment for this."
What eventually happened is that I got scheduled for my shot at 13:30 Monday. Which, translated into hours of schedule, means that on Monday I'll have classes from eight to nine, ten through twelve, my appointment for class registration starts at twelve thirty, my vaccine appointment is at one thirty in the afternoon, I have a midterm at three o' clock sharp and a chemistry lab from four to seven.
Ladies and gentlemen, Monday is going to be a busy day.
I stand with Garfield. The cartoon cat, not the dead president.
So, figuring that whilst taking a break from studying I'll just get over to the student health centre and get the shot yesterday, I walked over, presented the paper, and the lady (an older, more respectable matron than the one who dealt with me the last time, I might add) looked at me and asked, "Do you have an appointment?"
I glanced down at the slip of paper, which, under appointment times, said, "Any time after Feb. 1st" and replied, "Oh the last nurse told me just to come in after Feb. 1st."
She squinted at the other side of the paper, where the previous nurse had scribbled, "Bring vaccination records" because the UC system and the health center seemed to seldom be on the same page, and asked "Do you have your records with you? Your vaccination records," she added unnecessarily as I began digging throgh my backpack for the record I stuck in my agenda (which is the large kind).
Deep inhalation. I found the records and handed them to her. She looked at them over, looked at my green slip, and asked, "You're here for the hepB shot, right?"
Me, tryig not to sigh, "Yes."
Her, squinting at my records, "You've already completed the series, you're fine." Implied: You don't need more shots what the hell (this is from the expression on her face) are you doing here?
Me, thinking this is I should try to visit health centres on the same weekday every time, so I don't need to deal with new people and therefore new rules, "I didn't convert. I did a blood test and they told me I don't have the antibodies yet and that I need to get the shots again."
Her, deeply suspicious, "And did you get the blood test here?"
Me, reminding myself to be rspectful to my elders, "No, I got in Kaiser, where I was before I got enrolled here."
Her, even more suspicious because I suppose the Cowell Health Centre and Kaiser Permanente does not get along much. "Uh-huh...well you're going to need an appointment for this."
What eventually happened is that I got scheduled for my shot at 13:30 Monday. Which, translated into hours of schedule, means that on Monday I'll have classes from eight to nine, ten through twelve, my appointment for class registration starts at twelve thirty, my vaccine appointment is at one thirty in the afternoon, I have a midterm at three o' clock sharp and a chemistry lab from four to seven.
Ladies and gentlemen, Monday is going to be a busy day.
I stand with Garfield. The cartoon cat, not the dead president.
20060203
Recap: Silver bells and cockle shells
I keep trying to go and visit the greenhouse, but it's never open when I'm there so, fed up with that (still got to visit the field though, since I have the lock combination), I finally emailed the teacher and requested a schedule for when it's going to be open. We'll see what happens.
Also coming to the realization that none of the oranges in our DC ever have seeds. EVER. My first reaction, being cynical, was "oh they probably are worried that we'll have trouble with seeds and then will choke on them and will sue them or something." My second reaction, after a moment of though, was to realize that maybe it's just because the DC wants to make our lives easier because most people hate having to spit out seeds whilst eating a nice fruit. Two choices about what to think, no way to prove it and so what a person thinks and feels depends on what he/she decides.
I've been very lucky with the oranges though. No sour ones yet. Which brings me up to the contination of my on-going war against the strange things that are still up on the marigold.
While watering them yesterday, I was talking to Krista, and we were discussing the sad state of my plants (being attacked by pestilence,etc.) and to show her what I was talking about I took out my reg card and pried off two of those bugs from the marigold to show them to her, she took the card, stared at them, then turned to David (i.e. one of the 2 guys taking over our lounge) and says, "Hey, David, you want a friend?"
David, who has been more less keeping a tab on our conversation, inquires, "Why?" He then thinks about it for a moment and asks, "Is it because all my friends are ugly, is that it?"
My reaction: "..." There is very little I could've said at that point, since I know almost nothing about him beside the fact that he plays the guitar and is taking over our lounge.
Krista has a reply ready though. She handed the card back to me, looked at him, and says, "No, it's because you're ugly."
Me? I left with my reg card to wash off the bugs. Ugly little critters that they are.
...
From this point on, for everyone who's still following this and LUNATICS, please ignore my work schedule as posted in LUNATICS. I'll just post my shifts as they come and if no new posts show up about them, assume I'm still working then and there. This weekend I'm working:
Today: 17:30-20:30
Sat: 10:00-13:00 (training, this Sat only)
13:-14:30 (training, the rescheduled one, also this Sat only)
16:30-21:30
Sun: 16:00-21:30
With another bio midterm (which really ought to be called a quarter-term, since we have 4 of them) next Monday, which is why I'm done with all of my homework for the weekend (except studying, obviously) already.
Speaking of schedules, I have to register for my spring quarter classes next Monday. Yessirree. Have to decide and plan out schedule already and they don't tell you when the final is for each class until the classes actually start, but once again, we'll see.
And first jobs aren't usually this...chaotic. It depends a lot on where you work, in my case my coworkers agree that yes, here you'd have to figure out what's going on yourself because no one else tells you. In which case I really have only my own ineptitude to blame. Working in a library for instance, is a lot easier, but the library doesn't accept first-years as employees. Like most other campus jobs.
Mother still reminding me about internships. I looked. Plant-bio, being plant-bio, means field work. The first two internships I saw, one's in Virgin Island and the other's in Ecuador and mother probably was thinking something like Davis-lab work. Which probably exists, but I'll need to ask professors about it. Imagine her reaction, though. Out of country internships. AHEM.
Also coming to the realization that none of the oranges in our DC ever have seeds. EVER. My first reaction, being cynical, was "oh they probably are worried that we'll have trouble with seeds and then will choke on them and will sue them or something." My second reaction, after a moment of though, was to realize that maybe it's just because the DC wants to make our lives easier because most people hate having to spit out seeds whilst eating a nice fruit. Two choices about what to think, no way to prove it and so what a person thinks and feels depends on what he/she decides.
I've been very lucky with the oranges though. No sour ones yet. Which brings me up to the contination of my on-going war against the strange things that are still up on the marigold.
While watering them yesterday, I was talking to Krista, and we were discussing the sad state of my plants (being attacked by pestilence,etc.) and to show her what I was talking about I took out my reg card and pried off two of those bugs from the marigold to show them to her, she took the card, stared at them, then turned to David (i.e. one of the 2 guys taking over our lounge) and says, "Hey, David, you want a friend?"
David, who has been more less keeping a tab on our conversation, inquires, "Why?" He then thinks about it for a moment and asks, "Is it because all my friends are ugly, is that it?"
My reaction: "..." There is very little I could've said at that point, since I know almost nothing about him beside the fact that he plays the guitar and is taking over our lounge.
Krista has a reply ready though. She handed the card back to me, looked at him, and says, "No, it's because you're ugly."
Me? I left with my reg card to wash off the bugs. Ugly little critters that they are.
...
From this point on, for everyone who's still following this and LUNATICS, please ignore my work schedule as posted in LUNATICS. I'll just post my shifts as they come and if no new posts show up about them, assume I'm still working then and there. This weekend I'm working:
Today: 17:30-20:30
Sat: 10:00-13:00 (training, this Sat only)
13:-14:30 (training, the rescheduled one, also this Sat only)
16:30-21:30
Sun: 16:00-21:30
With another bio midterm (which really ought to be called a quarter-term, since we have 4 of them) next Monday, which is why I'm done with all of my homework for the weekend (except studying, obviously) already.
Speaking of schedules, I have to register for my spring quarter classes next Monday. Yessirree. Have to decide and plan out schedule already and they don't tell you when the final is for each class until the classes actually start, but once again, we'll see.
And first jobs aren't usually this...chaotic. It depends a lot on where you work, in my case my coworkers agree that yes, here you'd have to figure out what's going on yourself because no one else tells you. In which case I really have only my own ineptitude to blame. Working in a library for instance, is a lot easier, but the library doesn't accept first-years as employees. Like most other campus jobs.
Mother still reminding me about internships. I looked. Plant-bio, being plant-bio, means field work. The first two internships I saw, one's in Virgin Island and the other's in Ecuador and mother probably was thinking something like Davis-lab work. Which probably exists, but I'll need to ask professors about it. Imagine her reaction, though. Out of country internships. AHEM.
20060202
Recap: Listen my children and you shall hear
No, not nearly.
Actually, very, very far from "nearly" and made even further by the events of what actually happened, so here's another story for the future records.
It was very dark and I was biking over to Oxford Circle, where I was told the safety training session was scheduled at. It was uneventful aside from the fact that it had rained earlier so A) I was somewhat paranoid about the wet ground and biked VERY carefully B) I was slightly worried about the possibility it raining again later because late night--rain--bike--not fun. And then I got to the place somewhat early, as it is my habit to do, and stood outside for a while studying for bio (yes, I was reading words like "phosphofructokinase" while standing out there) and when the time was about there I entered and asked the girl who worked at the front desk if the safety training's upstairs and she said "Yeah."
Thus I went upstairs, and found all the rooms empty and dark save one, which was a dining room and was also empty. I was the only one upstairs. Naturally I went downstairs again and looked around for anyone who I might marginally recognize who might come to this insane, insane night-time training session. Finding none, I was naturally unsettled and went to the front desk again, and the other girl had left and the manager was standing there so I went up again, just to double check, and asked "The safety training tonight's upstairs, here, right?"
The manager stared at me like I was insane and answered. "There's no safety training here tonight." She looked at her watch, then helpfully added, "We don't schedule training sessions this late here, ever."
This was about the stage where I paused and checked whether the world is insane, or if I am, then upon remembering that both are at the same time anyway and therefore wouldn't be able to be used to formulate a useful hypothesis about the general insanity of what was happening, I explained to the manager that the safety training, I was told, have to be made by appointment at the Human Resource Center, and the nice lady there end up scheduling me for this nighttime session--which she insisted was nighttime and which was why I was scheduled for it because I couldn't make it to the other sessions this week--and now that I'm here and apparently no one else is--what should I do?
Being very helpful, she got through the lines and let me call the manager from MY work place, to attempt to figure out what's happening. The line was busy.
Yay.
Eventually, after waiting a few more minutes (five past ten) just to be sure that yes, something was definitely not right, I ended up biking BACK to Segundo where I worked and talked with the managers there where I found out that yes, I've been given the wrong schedule and could I possibly schedule my training session some other time?
One of the managers, trying to make me feel better, told me of how he was "screwed over by the Human Resource Centre earlier just that day" because he was suppose to cover someone else for interview at three/four, and the place someone ended up scheduling him for two so he got called in the middle of his microecon midterm. It did not make me feel better by much, but I take this as another experience that I can learn something from. I.e. when someone tells you something that doesn't sound right, double check with that person and then with someone else. Paranoia does pay off, apparently, at least in thise sort of circumstances.
Oh and also biking around by yourself randomly, late at night, is not all that exciting. Such a disappointment (ahem).
But I got to sleep before 1am. I'm very happy about that.
Note: Critters attacking marigold are nasty. Have far too many legs. And are fleshy. And the only working way of getting rid of them discovered thus far have been squishing them with the tip of my pencil which is utterly revolting but absolutely necessary.
Note2: Am failing bio quiz because I couldn't remember which side of the equation acetaldehyde goes on. Note to self to study ALL previous investigation activities, and not just the recent ones.
Aside from that: Hope you feel better soon Lucy and I will NOT be kidnapping anyone, even for you, I'm sorry.
Actually, very, very far from "nearly" and made even further by the events of what actually happened, so here's another story for the future records.
It was very dark and I was biking over to Oxford Circle, where I was told the safety training session was scheduled at. It was uneventful aside from the fact that it had rained earlier so A) I was somewhat paranoid about the wet ground and biked VERY carefully B) I was slightly worried about the possibility it raining again later because late night--rain--bike--not fun. And then I got to the place somewhat early, as it is my habit to do, and stood outside for a while studying for bio (yes, I was reading words like "phosphofructokinase" while standing out there) and when the time was about there I entered and asked the girl who worked at the front desk if the safety training's upstairs and she said "Yeah."
Thus I went upstairs, and found all the rooms empty and dark save one, which was a dining room and was also empty. I was the only one upstairs. Naturally I went downstairs again and looked around for anyone who I might marginally recognize who might come to this insane, insane night-time training session. Finding none, I was naturally unsettled and went to the front desk again, and the other girl had left and the manager was standing there so I went up again, just to double check, and asked "The safety training tonight's upstairs, here, right?"
The manager stared at me like I was insane and answered. "There's no safety training here tonight." She looked at her watch, then helpfully added, "We don't schedule training sessions this late here, ever."
This was about the stage where I paused and checked whether the world is insane, or if I am, then upon remembering that both are at the same time anyway and therefore wouldn't be able to be used to formulate a useful hypothesis about the general insanity of what was happening, I explained to the manager that the safety training, I was told, have to be made by appointment at the Human Resource Center, and the nice lady there end up scheduling me for this nighttime session--which she insisted was nighttime and which was why I was scheduled for it because I couldn't make it to the other sessions this week--and now that I'm here and apparently no one else is--what should I do?
Being very helpful, she got through the lines and let me call the manager from MY work place, to attempt to figure out what's happening. The line was busy.
Yay.
Eventually, after waiting a few more minutes (five past ten) just to be sure that yes, something was definitely not right, I ended up biking BACK to Segundo where I worked and talked with the managers there where I found out that yes, I've been given the wrong schedule and could I possibly schedule my training session some other time?
One of the managers, trying to make me feel better, told me of how he was "screwed over by the Human Resource Centre earlier just that day" because he was suppose to cover someone else for interview at three/four, and the place someone ended up scheduling him for two so he got called in the middle of his microecon midterm. It did not make me feel better by much, but I take this as another experience that I can learn something from. I.e. when someone tells you something that doesn't sound right, double check with that person and then with someone else. Paranoia does pay off, apparently, at least in thise sort of circumstances.
Oh and also biking around by yourself randomly, late at night, is not all that exciting. Such a disappointment (ahem).
But I got to sleep before 1am. I'm very happy about that.
Note: Critters attacking marigold are nasty. Have far too many legs. And are fleshy. And the only working way of getting rid of them discovered thus far have been squishing them with the tip of my pencil which is utterly revolting but absolutely necessary.
Note2: Am failing bio quiz because I couldn't remember which side of the equation acetaldehyde goes on. Note to self to study ALL previous investigation activities, and not just the recent ones.
Aside from that: Hope you feel better soon Lucy and I will NOT be kidnapping anyone, even for you, I'm sorry.
20060201
Recap: Il y a un homme
First of all, going off of Lucy's comment to yester's post:
Shredded carrots.........$24,365.54
Fishing out shredded carrots from your sleeve while reading your chem text...priceless.
There are something money can't buy, for everything else...etc.
Happy Wednesday.
Now, this brings me back to today's story, which actually happened yesterday and the day before but yesterday was sort of the breaking point for it. It's so...strange and amusing I have to share it.
Remember during my senior year how I once drew a "real-life" sketch of a fictional character that I created (for those of you who remembers this name: Alec) and then how Soniya said it looks EXACTLY like this girl and ranted to me, repeatedly, about how she HAS TO show me this girl (whom, by the way, I never saw and probably will never see).
And then remember, Lucy, in the beginning of this year where I mentioned that I 'saw' another character, Zach, in the dining commons? I never saw him again, but that was creepy too.
So what I'm getting up to is that the other day, I looked up from getting out my notebook in the bio lecture hall, and saw Nick. Now for those of you who'd seen the original sketch, the very first one done on the left-over-from-physio notecards, where I didn't shade in the hair and so it looked like Nick might as well be blonde? That is exactly what the guy (I don't know him) looked like. Complete with the expression because he was looking for his friends in the 500-people lecture hall. This is both more and less strange than the last-year Alec-incident because Alec is entirely pictured in my head and Nick's sketch is originally based on a photo of a real life person (random googling, FYI, ask me if you want to know exactly what I did), which made it marginally better to have some flesh-and-blood being looking like that. but it's still unnerving to have someone who looks so MUCH like a cartoon you drew. I mean, he was about the right height and built too and the only thing wrong was that A. his hair was light brown, not black, and B. he was dressed too normally in jacket and jeans.
Get a hold of yourself, Lucy. (AHEM.)
And then (why I denoted yesterday as a breaking point), yesterday, I saw him again right before the bio lecture and for some reason he was wearing this really strangely coloured sweater over a shirt. It looked like a DRESS SHIRT. I have no idea what or why he was dressed like that for, but I couldn't help but to start laughing to myself. Of course I was doing it quietly, but I was under the impression that the person who sat next to me thought I was completely wacko.
I can't blame her. I felt sort of wacko. Not the city in Texas.
Noted: soap water has no effect on the strange things that are currently afflicting my marigold.
[edit 20:53]
In an email from my mother tonight:
Your statement for education fee for tax have sent
today by some office not your school. So you do not
need to query this thing.
And that brings an end to my Tuesday's story, of how I inquired and biked, and received the grocery receipt. Next time my parents tell me to do something ahead of time I think I might tell them to wait. Just a few day longer.
But I am very experienced now. Yes. And I have a photo of Dutton Hall.
Shredded carrots.........$24,365.54
Fishing out shredded carrots from your sleeve while reading your chem text...priceless.
There are something money can't buy, for everything else...etc.
Happy Wednesday.
Now, this brings me back to today's story, which actually happened yesterday and the day before but yesterday was sort of the breaking point for it. It's so...strange and amusing I have to share it.
Remember during my senior year how I once drew a "real-life" sketch of a fictional character that I created (for those of you who remembers this name: Alec) and then how Soniya said it looks EXACTLY like this girl and ranted to me, repeatedly, about how she HAS TO show me this girl (whom, by the way, I never saw and probably will never see).
And then remember, Lucy, in the beginning of this year where I mentioned that I 'saw' another character, Zach, in the dining commons? I never saw him again, but that was creepy too.
So what I'm getting up to is that the other day, I looked up from getting out my notebook in the bio lecture hall, and saw Nick. Now for those of you who'd seen the original sketch, the very first one done on the left-over-from-physio notecards, where I didn't shade in the hair and so it looked like Nick might as well be blonde? That is exactly what the guy (I don't know him) looked like. Complete with the expression because he was looking for his friends in the 500-people lecture hall. This is both more and less strange than the last-year Alec-incident because Alec is entirely pictured in my head and Nick's sketch is originally based on a photo of a real life person (random googling, FYI, ask me if you want to know exactly what I did), which made it marginally better to have some flesh-and-blood being looking like that. but it's still unnerving to have someone who looks so MUCH like a cartoon you drew. I mean, he was about the right height and built too and the only thing wrong was that A. his hair was light brown, not black, and B. he was dressed too normally in jacket and jeans.
Get a hold of yourself, Lucy. (AHEM.)
And then (why I denoted yesterday as a breaking point), yesterday, I saw him again right before the bio lecture and for some reason he was wearing this really strangely coloured sweater over a shirt. It looked like a DRESS SHIRT. I have no idea what or why he was dressed like that for, but I couldn't help but to start laughing to myself. Of course I was doing it quietly, but I was under the impression that the person who sat next to me thought I was completely wacko.
I can't blame her. I felt sort of wacko. Not the city in Texas.
Noted: soap water has no effect on the strange things that are currently afflicting my marigold.
[edit 20:53]
In an email from my mother tonight:
Your statement for education fee for tax have sent
today by some office not your school. So you do not
need to query this thing.
And that brings an end to my Tuesday's story, of how I inquired and biked, and received the grocery receipt. Next time my parents tell me to do something ahead of time I think I might tell them to wait. Just a few day longer.
But I am very experienced now. Yes. And I have a photo of Dutton Hall.
20060131
Recap: Just a ride?
Tuesdays, in theory, are suppose to be my easier days of the 5 weekdays. Somehow, Tuesdays of late have been anything but easy. Brace yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, it is going to be yet another long post, featuring, yours truly, rambling about in words and on bike.
I knew I had a lot to do this morning, so even though my class doesn't start until the afternoon, I got up at 8 and, realizing that most places (meaning offices of customer service) doesn't open till 9, I decided to go and de-aphid my chrysanthemum again. A few weeks ago (forgotten if I've written this out), people started opening the windows in the lounge, aphids got in, ladybugs, which eat aphids, are too big to enter the screen. I had aphid problems, tried to solve it with diluted soap water, eventually realized it was faster when I just took a paper towel and wiped off the leaves. So, this morning, I spoted some aphids and thought I should do that. Then I realized that a lot more leaves are dying than what's normal so I (you do this when you can't see what's wrong with the plant immediately) flipped the plant to its side, and discovered that the bottom of all leaves are completedly COVERED with aphids.
Let me tell you, it is a truly disgusting site. And wiping with a paper towel was out of the option, so I retreated to my soap-solution and, like the other time, having no empty spray bottle, took a empty drinking water bottle, mixed my solution (3 drop liquid soap per 500mL, about), took off the spray top from my laundry detergent, and attached them together (for your information, it works, which is all I care about at the moment). I sprayed it and hoped it will recover. I returned the bottle to my room and, having a few more moments, examined my other plants, and discovered that the marigold was being attacked by weird things that looked like pillbugs (i.e. roly-polys or whatever people commonly calls them) that secrete sticky white foam things.
That was sort of disgusting too. I, having never seen them before, decided to try the soap and went to my room and got the spray bottle and sprayed THAT plant too. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.
At this point I checked the time, got my stuff, and went outside to start my round of phone calls because A. I have no inside-the-building reception to speak of and B. Molly was still sleeping, being somewhat more sane.
The first phone call was to paypal, which I have never used but which whoever used my credit card the other times apparently have. Last time, before the bill came in, I started getting fraudulent emails from paypal and, knowing they're fake (FYI, paypal emails address you by your name/company name, frauds go "dear customer" etc.) I deleted them but they seemed to got to my numbers (no clue how) anyway. I canceled the card (as you all know), and the email stopped. Yesterday I started receiving those emails again and naturally, I am deeply disturbed and decide to call the service number on paypal, upon which, 20 minutes of waiting in the cold later, they informed me that I do not have an account with paypal and that I have spent (from my bill the last time) money on 100 game tokens.
"I don't even know what the hell they are," I exclaimed, being cold, and sick of hearing the obvious you-don't-actually-have-an-account-with-us-how-strange when I've been repeating someone-made-a-purchase-in-my-account-which-I-dont-have to every single "agent" I've talked to, thus far, this morning. And yes I used the word 'hell', I felt like I was justified. Or at least my temper was. Eventually they tried to update my non-existing account, and was kicked out of the system for some reason (I am serious) so the agent told me he'd report this and he'll take down my information to enter to the system later and "Thank you very much for calling paypal, is there anything else I can do for you today?"
"No," I said, vowing to never visit ebay (which I've never done anyway) again.
Then it's attempting to schedule my renewal for my job training, which needs to happen once a year after you're employed and for Segundo (my area) it means it needs to happen in the winter quarter and, unlucky me, I was hired in December (technically), so that means after my December training I'll need to go through the bad movies again. And I need to find 4 different time chunks that do not interfer with my classes or my work shifts, which turned out to be a bit of a problem. (Not to mention no one picked up at the RSVP phone number that I was suppose to call, so I had to go over to the Human Resource Center.) But I need to get them done before the end of winter quarter, and the classes were offered at random times, and eventually it ends up that I'll have to bike out at 10pm tomorrow night and attend safety training which will last till 1am at which time I'll bike back and sleep, hopefully with enough time to prepare for my 9am bio lab/discussion and metabolism quiz the next...well I guess that would be that day since 1am....
Two of my Saturdays and one of my Fridays are also taken up. Now I just need to make sure that when they randomly shift my shift (no pun intended) they won't end up clashing together.
So--another item off of the list. Now it's to answer my parent's request which is to inquire about where to get the receipt for my school bills for their tax form and yes I know it's just almost February but what can I say--we, as a family, likes to do things early.
What I dislike about being asked to ask about things in college was that no one KNOWS anything for certain, it seems, they keep sending you to who they THINK will have the answer and you go around everywhere and eventually figure out that your original intuition was right and you just wasted your morning. So this morning, I asked my RA, who sent me to Mrak's hall's Registrar's office (south corner of campus, I live at norther end), which turned out to be located in the basement for some reason. The stairs leading to the basement are very narrow, and they go down quite a bit, and the walls were painted an interesting shade of reddish-orange so as I went down I was thinking: helllooooo Dante. The office itself? Dim lights. No windows. There were vending machines though. I found the sight of vending machines deeply reassuring in a strange environment. Oh yes, and the nice lady behind the counter sent me to Dutton Hall, Cashier's office, at east end of campus.
I got the receipt there (thankfully, I HOPE it's the right one). And there were a bit of trouble with it since originally the school decided I was not a resident of California, and charged me the non-resident fee (which is significantly more) until it figured out that I am, in fact, a resident, and then 'returned' the due amount to me under my Davis account, in credits. And when my winter quarter bill came around, they took it directly out of the credit (and I still have some credits left, just to give you an idea of the difference between resident and non-resident fees). The problem with this was that when I ask for both the fall and winter quarter receipts, the lady could only find one. Being that I actually used the card once and the rest of the time it was the UC system messing about on its own. So hence I say I hope this'll work...and if my parents check and say it won't work for the tax form...well...it's back to Dutton hall for me, I suppose.
By the way, the receipt looks exactly like a grocery receipt. With one item on it. That's the only real difference between that and a grocery receipt aside from the amount of money printed there (which, you might recall, is quite large). I find the grocery-receipt largely amusing and took a picture of Dutton hall as I was leaving because I remembered that I've been meaning to take a picture of that place for a long time and kept forgetting. So I got something for myself out of this morning, besides a headache: I have a photo.
Also, no, it's not that the world's crashing down or anything. I just had a real-life storytelling lesson yesterday and suddenly realized that all these things happening to me, while they're not world shattering or anything, can be very entertaining tales. Molly slept through most of this (I met her leaving as I was returning), through my continuous returns for spray bottles, account records, and so on. I am deeply envious (that she could sleep through almost anything, it seems) and felt, to quote Christine, like "I fail at life."
But:
"Defeat means nothing but defeat, no drearier can prevail!"
Yes I must be philosophical. It is in my nature.
Omens for hardworking have been holding true so far. I'm sorry to say, Lucy, that shredded carrots are in my near future since I'm destined to work at the salad bar once a week at least.
[edit 13:00]
The happy ending to the Sunday incident: I went to return the spare shirt today, explaning to one of the managers what had happened and he looked at me and asks: "Are you going to need two shirts?
And I, thinking that I don't know how long it will be before I finally learn to figure out my when my shift is BEFORE it starts, answers, "At this point, I'm really not sure."
To which he informs me, "Why don't you just keep both shirts for now?"
And the good thing about that was, see, the shirt they issued me Sunday night was size S, while the original one was size L (because they couldn't any other size that night of second orientation). Needless to say which one I'll be wearing from now on. No offense to the original shirt. It'll have a special spot in my drawers for as long as it's here.
I knew I had a lot to do this morning, so even though my class doesn't start until the afternoon, I got up at 8 and, realizing that most places (meaning offices of customer service) doesn't open till 9, I decided to go and de-aphid my chrysanthemum again. A few weeks ago (forgotten if I've written this out), people started opening the windows in the lounge, aphids got in, ladybugs, which eat aphids, are too big to enter the screen. I had aphid problems, tried to solve it with diluted soap water, eventually realized it was faster when I just took a paper towel and wiped off the leaves. So, this morning, I spoted some aphids and thought I should do that. Then I realized that a lot more leaves are dying than what's normal so I (you do this when you can't see what's wrong with the plant immediately) flipped the plant to its side, and discovered that the bottom of all leaves are completedly COVERED with aphids.
Let me tell you, it is a truly disgusting site. And wiping with a paper towel was out of the option, so I retreated to my soap-solution and, like the other time, having no empty spray bottle, took a empty drinking water bottle, mixed my solution (3 drop liquid soap per 500mL, about), took off the spray top from my laundry detergent, and attached them together (for your information, it works, which is all I care about at the moment). I sprayed it and hoped it will recover. I returned the bottle to my room and, having a few more moments, examined my other plants, and discovered that the marigold was being attacked by weird things that looked like pillbugs (i.e. roly-polys or whatever people commonly calls them) that secrete sticky white foam things.
That was sort of disgusting too. I, having never seen them before, decided to try the soap and went to my room and got the spray bottle and sprayed THAT plant too. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.
At this point I checked the time, got my stuff, and went outside to start my round of phone calls because A. I have no inside-the-building reception to speak of and B. Molly was still sleeping, being somewhat more sane.
The first phone call was to paypal, which I have never used but which whoever used my credit card the other times apparently have. Last time, before the bill came in, I started getting fraudulent emails from paypal and, knowing they're fake (FYI, paypal emails address you by your name/company name, frauds go "dear customer" etc.) I deleted them but they seemed to got to my numbers (no clue how) anyway. I canceled the card (as you all know), and the email stopped. Yesterday I started receiving those emails again and naturally, I am deeply disturbed and decide to call the service number on paypal, upon which, 20 minutes of waiting in the cold later, they informed me that I do not have an account with paypal and that I have spent (from my bill the last time) money on 100 game tokens.
"I don't even know what the hell they are," I exclaimed, being cold, and sick of hearing the obvious you-don't-actually-have-an-account-with-us-how-strange when I've been repeating someone-made-a-purchase-in-my-account-which-I-dont-have to every single "agent" I've talked to, thus far, this morning. And yes I used the word 'hell', I felt like I was justified. Or at least my temper was. Eventually they tried to update my non-existing account, and was kicked out of the system for some reason (I am serious) so the agent told me he'd report this and he'll take down my information to enter to the system later and "Thank you very much for calling paypal, is there anything else I can do for you today?"
"No," I said, vowing to never visit ebay (which I've never done anyway) again.
Then it's attempting to schedule my renewal for my job training, which needs to happen once a year after you're employed and for Segundo (my area) it means it needs to happen in the winter quarter and, unlucky me, I was hired in December (technically), so that means after my December training I'll need to go through the bad movies again. And I need to find 4 different time chunks that do not interfer with my classes or my work shifts, which turned out to be a bit of a problem. (Not to mention no one picked up at the RSVP phone number that I was suppose to call, so I had to go over to the Human Resource Center.) But I need to get them done before the end of winter quarter, and the classes were offered at random times, and eventually it ends up that I'll have to bike out at 10pm tomorrow night and attend safety training which will last till 1am at which time I'll bike back and sleep, hopefully with enough time to prepare for my 9am bio lab/discussion and metabolism quiz the next...well I guess that would be that day since 1am....
Two of my Saturdays and one of my Fridays are also taken up. Now I just need to make sure that when they randomly shift my shift (no pun intended) they won't end up clashing together.
So--another item off of the list. Now it's to answer my parent's request which is to inquire about where to get the receipt for my school bills for their tax form and yes I know it's just almost February but what can I say--we, as a family, likes to do things early.
What I dislike about being asked to ask about things in college was that no one KNOWS anything for certain, it seems, they keep sending you to who they THINK will have the answer and you go around everywhere and eventually figure out that your original intuition was right and you just wasted your morning. So this morning, I asked my RA, who sent me to Mrak's hall's Registrar's office (south corner of campus, I live at norther end), which turned out to be located in the basement for some reason. The stairs leading to the basement are very narrow, and they go down quite a bit, and the walls were painted an interesting shade of reddish-orange so as I went down I was thinking: helllooooo Dante. The office itself? Dim lights. No windows. There were vending machines though. I found the sight of vending machines deeply reassuring in a strange environment. Oh yes, and the nice lady behind the counter sent me to Dutton Hall, Cashier's office, at east end of campus.
I got the receipt there (thankfully, I HOPE it's the right one). And there were a bit of trouble with it since originally the school decided I was not a resident of California, and charged me the non-resident fee (which is significantly more) until it figured out that I am, in fact, a resident, and then 'returned' the due amount to me under my Davis account, in credits. And when my winter quarter bill came around, they took it directly out of the credit (and I still have some credits left, just to give you an idea of the difference between resident and non-resident fees). The problem with this was that when I ask for both the fall and winter quarter receipts, the lady could only find one. Being that I actually used the card once and the rest of the time it was the UC system messing about on its own. So hence I say I hope this'll work...and if my parents check and say it won't work for the tax form...well...it's back to Dutton hall for me, I suppose.
By the way, the receipt looks exactly like a grocery receipt. With one item on it. That's the only real difference between that and a grocery receipt aside from the amount of money printed there (which, you might recall, is quite large). I find the grocery-receipt largely amusing and took a picture of Dutton hall as I was leaving because I remembered that I've been meaning to take a picture of that place for a long time and kept forgetting. So I got something for myself out of this morning, besides a headache: I have a photo.
Also, no, it's not that the world's crashing down or anything. I just had a real-life storytelling lesson yesterday and suddenly realized that all these things happening to me, while they're not world shattering or anything, can be very entertaining tales. Molly slept through most of this (I met her leaving as I was returning), through my continuous returns for spray bottles, account records, and so on. I am deeply envious (that she could sleep through almost anything, it seems) and felt, to quote Christine, like "I fail at life."
But:
"Defeat means nothing but defeat, no drearier can prevail!"
Yes I must be philosophical. It is in my nature.
Omens for hardworking have been holding true so far. I'm sorry to say, Lucy, that shredded carrots are in my near future since I'm destined to work at the salad bar once a week at least.
[edit 13:00]
The happy ending to the Sunday incident: I went to return the spare shirt today, explaning to one of the managers what had happened and he looked at me and asks: "Are you going to need two shirts?
And I, thinking that I don't know how long it will be before I finally learn to figure out my when my shift is BEFORE it starts, answers, "At this point, I'm really not sure."
To which he informs me, "Why don't you just keep both shirts for now?"
And the good thing about that was, see, the shirt they issued me Sunday night was size S, while the original one was size L (because they couldn't any other size that night of second orientation). Needless to say which one I'll be wearing from now on. No offense to the original shirt. It'll have a special spot in my drawers for as long as it's here.
20060130
Recap: STP
Holding study at 760 torr and around 303.15 K?
Here's my rather long recap of the second half of my New Years, fortelling that this year will be full of new experiences and lots of hard work. The reasons for believing this are as follows:
Having to wait for laundry cut my timeline a bit close, or so I thought, since my shift starts at 17:00 sharp (they're getting strict about time now) and the laundry comes out of the dryer at 16:50 (close). Meanwhile, I've finished everything else I could possibly done at that point and was sitting in front of my computer, going through my emails (thank you very much, Lucy, by the way; and I'm sure Sirius appreciates the thought), when a manager called me (around 16:30) and asked: "Hey, I was wondering if you knew your shift starts at 4 today?"
Naturally, my response was: "... ... ... No."
Upon which the manager inquires, "Oh. Well then, do you think you can come over right now and start working?"
Me, feeling embarressed and vowing to myself to never, ever, leave laundry to Sunday afternoons in this and all my other possibly reincarnated lives, answered. "Um. My work uniform is still in the dryer."
"When does it come out?"
Mortification. Also some distress at the prospect of needing to have this conversation in the first place. "At ...4:50."
Pause. I contemplated my fate as a new worker. "Hold on, let me see if we can have an extra shirt for you." Longer pause. I suddenly wonder why I'll need the work shirt since I work in one of the kitchens on Sunday and because of the new rule, now need to wear a chef coat, but decided not to ask. "You're in luck, there're spare shirts. So can you come over in...ten minutes?"
Me, feeling that I should be dutiful since we're nearly always shorthanded anyway and I don't want to make my coworker's lives harder. "Er. Sure."
Upon which I pulled together my things, considered the fact that there're people still waiting for the laundry machines and therefore I can't just leave my clothes in there, requested my roommate to get my laundry for me at 17'o clock with more acute embarressment (I don't like other people touching my laundry if I can help it), and hurried out where I tried to take the usual shortcut to the dining hall but, of course, Murphy's law and the doors through the building were locked so I went the other way around and arrived to find out that lo and behold, I work, once again, at the salad bar which is the only kitchen with a separate food display area and the helpers are called 'runners' for good reasons and my that was a heck of a run-on. Oh well.
And the cook, who was suppose to tell me what's in what I'm serving and where to get things, was missing for the start of the shift, so I spent some time but eventually managed to get everything together by randomly asking lots of people. And it turned out that I was the only helper that night, so I get to cover all three of the salad bars with our dining place averaging at 1200 people, trying to keep all three bars constantly filled and clean, from 4:30-9:30, including clean up afterwards. Let me mention that I despise shredded carrots. I like carrot sticks. I like carrots. I cannot understand shredded carrots. They also get everywhere (found some up my sleeve later for some odd reason) and are impossible to get off the counter. Tried to figure out when I'm working this week. Failed. Found out I need to complete a few more orientation things before March and need to make appointments for that. Finished the day feeling very tired (feet hurt) but slept very well though.
If the first year of the New Year is truly an indication of how the rest of the year should turn out that means that I'll be cutting a lot of deadlines, feeling confused 90% of the time (which, though I must admit, seemed to be the majority of my life anyway, despite of beliefs to the contrary), giving directions and information to people that I've barely memorized (again, familiar, awfully), and ending up feeling dead-tired but knowing that I've managed to pull it off. And I won't have any trouble sleeping afterwards.
That's not so bad.
And yes, told ya it's a long post.
Here's my rather long recap of the second half of my New Years, fortelling that this year will be full of new experiences and lots of hard work. The reasons for believing this are as follows:
Having to wait for laundry cut my timeline a bit close, or so I thought, since my shift starts at 17:00 sharp (they're getting strict about time now) and the laundry comes out of the dryer at 16:50 (close). Meanwhile, I've finished everything else I could possibly done at that point and was sitting in front of my computer, going through my emails (thank you very much, Lucy, by the way; and I'm sure Sirius appreciates the thought), when a manager called me (around 16:30) and asked: "Hey, I was wondering if you knew your shift starts at 4 today?"
Naturally, my response was: "... ... ... No."
Upon which the manager inquires, "Oh. Well then, do you think you can come over right now and start working?"
Me, feeling embarressed and vowing to myself to never, ever, leave laundry to Sunday afternoons in this and all my other possibly reincarnated lives, answered. "Um. My work uniform is still in the dryer."
"When does it come out?"
Mortification. Also some distress at the prospect of needing to have this conversation in the first place. "At ...4:50."
Pause. I contemplated my fate as a new worker. "Hold on, let me see if we can have an extra shirt for you." Longer pause. I suddenly wonder why I'll need the work shirt since I work in one of the kitchens on Sunday and because of the new rule, now need to wear a chef coat, but decided not to ask. "You're in luck, there're spare shirts. So can you come over in...ten minutes?"
Me, feeling that I should be dutiful since we're nearly always shorthanded anyway and I don't want to make my coworker's lives harder. "Er. Sure."
Upon which I pulled together my things, considered the fact that there're people still waiting for the laundry machines and therefore I can't just leave my clothes in there, requested my roommate to get my laundry for me at 17'o clock with more acute embarressment (I don't like other people touching my laundry if I can help it), and hurried out where I tried to take the usual shortcut to the dining hall but, of course, Murphy's law and the doors through the building were locked so I went the other way around and arrived to find out that lo and behold, I work, once again, at the salad bar which is the only kitchen with a separate food display area and the helpers are called 'runners' for good reasons and my that was a heck of a run-on. Oh well.
And the cook, who was suppose to tell me what's in what I'm serving and where to get things, was missing for the start of the shift, so I spent some time but eventually managed to get everything together by randomly asking lots of people. And it turned out that I was the only helper that night, so I get to cover all three of the salad bars with our dining place averaging at 1200 people, trying to keep all three bars constantly filled and clean, from 4:30-9:30, including clean up afterwards. Let me mention that I despise shredded carrots. I like carrot sticks. I like carrots. I cannot understand shredded carrots. They also get everywhere (found some up my sleeve later for some odd reason) and are impossible to get off the counter. Tried to figure out when I'm working this week. Failed. Found out I need to complete a few more orientation things before March and need to make appointments for that. Finished the day feeling very tired (feet hurt) but slept very well though.
If the first year of the New Year is truly an indication of how the rest of the year should turn out that means that I'll be cutting a lot of deadlines, feeling confused 90% of the time (which, though I must admit, seemed to be the majority of my life anyway, despite of beliefs to the contrary), giving directions and information to people that I've barely memorized (again, familiar, awfully), and ending up feeling dead-tired but knowing that I've managed to pull it off. And I won't have any trouble sleeping afterwards.
That's not so bad.
And yes, told ya it's a long post.
20060129
Recap: Against the seconds
Laundry
Postlab
Lit
Shower
Work
Original order of my tasks which reminds me to say NEVER EVER wait until Sunday afternoon to do laundry in the dorms. I've always did in on Saturday mornings and such and so had no problems with waiting. Or of people who leaves their laundry in the machine for far too long after the cycle's done. Current list of things:
Lit
Postlab
Laundry
Shower
Work
Am currently sitting in lounge with my 2 metre cat5 cable waiting for empty machine. Yes there it goes. Okay leaving now.
[edit 15:45, when the little lines are added]
Postlab
Lit
Shower
Work
Original order of my tasks which reminds me to say NEVER EVER wait until Sunday afternoon to do laundry in the dorms. I've always did in on Saturday mornings and such and so had no problems with waiting. Or of people who leaves their laundry in the machine for far too long after the cycle's done. Current list of things:
Shower
Work
Am currently sitting in lounge with my 2 metre cat5 cable waiting for empty machine. Yes there it goes. Okay leaving now.
[edit 15:45, when the little lines are added]
20060128
Recap: A second chance
Another stab at dumpling making tonight. With all due luck the power will not go out when we try to cook it tomorrow morning. (And if it does I'll just give up on the entire year's worth of luck, that is all.)
It's taken my internet 10 minutes for this to load, meanwhile I get to contemplate the mysteries of life...such as the ways people slice their sandwiches and the astonishing array of things people will eat. Oh. There. My other page loaded.
Today, according to the Lunar Calendar, is the end of the year of the rooster, tomorrow is the year of the dog so indirectly, it's also another stab at another New Year's. A second chance for the year to start. Ha.
The advantages of being culturally diverse, indeed.
It's taken my internet 10 minutes for this to load, meanwhile I get to contemplate the mysteries of life...such as the ways people slice their sandwiches and the astonishing array of things people will eat. Oh. There. My other page loaded.
Today, according to the Lunar Calendar, is the end of the year of the rooster, tomorrow is the year of the dog so indirectly, it's also another stab at another New Year's. A second chance for the year to start. Ha.
The advantages of being culturally diverse, indeed.
20060127
Recap: Pressure v.s. efficiency, graphed
Have no finished chem midterm, have had no time to do multiple choice, balance equations, calculate compositions, and name compounds all within 50 minutes. At least this time I am fairly sure that not many people finished either, but even so, the margin for error is making me cringe inside.
Also, there is this one very messed up question, last of the multiple choice section:
If every person on earth told one joke, how many jokes would there be?
My reaction: ... ... ... what the hell?
And yes, we had numerical answers to choose from, and one "none of the above", which made it that much more evil.
More dealing with the consequences of loosing one's wallet today. Will attempt to do homework on the carride home as to free up weekend for further activities. Deeply resentful of the chemistry professor at the moment but also wondering about the paper lily that showed up in the lounge. And the people. Them too.
[edit 4:21]
Am at home, have just completed the required 100 pt QUIZ for chemistry online. For NOMENCLATURE. Got 96%. Am ridiculously proud of myself, esp. since I was struggling with the slow modem and was worrying if I'll be dropped offline in the middle but it didn't so I didn't so that was over. Thank. God.
Also, there is this one very messed up question, last of the multiple choice section:
If every person on earth told one joke, how many jokes would there be?
My reaction: ... ... ... what the hell?
And yes, we had numerical answers to choose from, and one "none of the above", which made it that much more evil.
More dealing with the consequences of loosing one's wallet today. Will attempt to do homework on the carride home as to free up weekend for further activities. Deeply resentful of the chemistry professor at the moment but also wondering about the paper lily that showed up in the lounge. And the people. Them too.
[edit 4:21]
Am at home, have just completed the required 100 pt QUIZ for chemistry online. For NOMENCLATURE. Got 96%. Am ridiculously proud of myself, esp. since I was struggling with the slow modem and was worrying if I'll be dropped offline in the middle but it didn't so I didn't so that was over. Thank. God.
20060126
Recap: For all values of P greater than 0
Taken from an email from my bio TA, to us, regarding the quiz this morning:
Salutations
I just wanted to let you know that you may bring simple calculator if you
wish for the quiz in my sections. You may or may not find a ruler useful.
Happy studying.
It's wonderful how helpful he is trying to be. And I think I failed that quiz, by the way, because we had to do these problems on water potential and I completely do not remember how it works with two molarities instead of one and was trying to derive it on the spot and had absolutely NO IDEA how to calculate pressure potential. (Usually, open beaker=pressure potential=0, but not so with these problems.) So now my only hope is that no one else remembered how to do it either, which I'm 99% sure won't happen, or that other people will miss a bunch of other problems so the curve will be, as Victoria had once put it "WHACKING low", except since a bunch of the problems were about metric (METRIC!) I don't think the chance of that happening is in my favour.
Heavens, chem midterm tomorrow morning, what fun.
First-
-time wearing a chef coat, which was a bit too large, and the stupid, stupid chef hat which kept on falling off and was of no help of whatsoever.
Salutations
I just wanted to let you know that you may bring simple calculator if you
wish for the quiz in my sections. You may or may not find a ruler useful.
Happy studying.
It's wonderful how helpful he is trying to be. And I think I failed that quiz, by the way, because we had to do these problems on water potential and I completely do not remember how it works with two molarities instead of one and was trying to derive it on the spot and had absolutely NO IDEA how to calculate pressure potential. (Usually, open beaker=pressure potential=0, but not so with these problems.) So now my only hope is that no one else remembered how to do it either, which I'm 99% sure won't happen, or that other people will miss a bunch of other problems so the curve will be, as Victoria had once put it "WHACKING low", except since a bunch of the problems were about metric (METRIC!) I don't think the chance of that happening is in my favour.
Heavens, chem midterm tomorrow morning, what fun.
First-
-time wearing a chef coat, which was a bit too large, and the stupid, stupid chef hat which kept on falling off and was of no help of whatsoever.
20060125
Recap: The magic of side remarks
One last stab at my fear of public speaking, which hopefully will be fatal to it this time (ha. ha.) since I've been struggling with THIS particular phobia since when I had to first deal with public speaking. May my love for stories override whatever other nervous tics that my psyche has in store for me. This is reassuring. If I don't at least have faith in myself, I at least have faith in fairytales.
Yes I realized that there's something deeply ironic about that sentence.
Busy day today (since Wednesday has, once again, turned out to be my most filled day of the week) what with bio quiz and chem midterms (in that order) arriving. Also need to do a journal prompt on plant pathogens but at least I found that interesting.
Trevor and David are, I think, now a Miller-floor-3 joke, in that they have taken over the lounge. Last night, being Molly's friend, Enbo's birthday, he and his friend, Steve, had something going on and I only caught the part about them retaking over the 3rd floor lounge from Trevor and David. Which I find funny. Which is also sadly necessary since it seems whenever I walk past the lounge at least one of the two guys are ALWAYS sitting there (don't they have classes?). Strange, strange folks.
My marigolds are blooming nicely though, despite of me forgetting to water them on Monday and therefore nearly causing fatal dessication. People appear to like my plants, but then again, I think most people here like anything strange that shows up in the lounge, which reminds me to mention tha the plastic skull on a stick had disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.
Yes I realized that there's something deeply ironic about that sentence.
Busy day today (since Wednesday has, once again, turned out to be my most filled day of the week) what with bio quiz and chem midterms (in that order) arriving. Also need to do a journal prompt on plant pathogens but at least I found that interesting.
Trevor and David are, I think, now a Miller-floor-3 joke, in that they have taken over the lounge. Last night, being Molly's friend, Enbo's birthday, he and his friend, Steve, had something going on and I only caught the part about them retaking over the 3rd floor lounge from Trevor and David. Which I find funny. Which is also sadly necessary since it seems whenever I walk past the lounge at least one of the two guys are ALWAYS sitting there (don't they have classes?). Strange, strange folks.
My marigolds are blooming nicely though, despite of me forgetting to water them on Monday and therefore nearly causing fatal dessication. People appear to like my plants, but then again, I think most people here like anything strange that shows up in the lounge, which reminds me to mention tha the plastic skull on a stick had disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.
20060124
Recap: Diem perdidi
Having a midterm followed by a three hour chem lab is tiring in terms of stress level. Though the lab was interesting in itself, since my partner and I finished early so I get to try more strange stuff and re-test the one combination of the unknown (with permission from the TA, of course), which was very fun. Ammonium hydroxide smells awful, as usual, and people had a habit of borrowing reagents from each other so you have to go and hunt down six molar acids which is...well, first time for everything, right?
Chemistry midterm Friday. My week will be dedicated to midterms and presentations. Depressing.
Chemistry midterm Friday. My week will be dedicated to midterms and presentations. Depressing.
20060123
Recap: A thousandth of a wish
I wonder if the wish is made
One per thousand paper cranes
How much magic can each crane take
If magic can be explained...
Lovely, lovely weather today (which, I feel, is never the less ruined by the fact that it's a Monday. There is something about the sheer Monday-ness of it that is bound to cast a shadow on all things beautiful). I have a class in exactly 44 minutes, a midterm this afternoon with 499 other students (yay gigantic lecture halls) and here I sit, trying to remember the exact wordings to Dread Mary the Mermaid's song:
No gold or silver but buttons for me
No gold or silver but buttons
Gold and jewels are fine for fools
But buttons oh buttons oh buttons
No sanity, doesn't quite factor in either. It seldom does. Yesterday morning I, being strange and unusual in a dorm of other college students, got up early and went by, on my way out, to check up on my plants which are in the lounge and noticed Trevor sleeping on the floor by the coffee table. One learns, after a while, not to question such things. While on my way out there is a girl running around in an evening gown. One learns not to question those types of things too. Or why there's a plastic skull on a stick on the lounge table. College dorms, no matter where you are, have very cryptic factors built into it's very...er...wooden planks (was going to say 'stones'). I was contemplating (yesterday) writing a story about the elves who reshuffle your flashcards and steal your socks. It will be like the tale of "The Elves and the Shoemaker" except, obviously, not.
Good luck, Lucy, with your class scheduling (I'll have to start worrying about mine again in approximately one month). And as for the online catalogues...when I draw things chances are, more likely than not, that I'm hiding in the lounge where internet is not an option, so I was thinking more along the lines of a convenient way to just conjure cloth images in my head. I've realized that if there're guys around I'll just copy the style of their clothing. It made it easier. So that's a way to, if not solve, then at least prudently avoid the problem.
Everyone around me is going apartment hunting now. Alas, the season has begun!
[edit 19:15]
I focus too much on visual and audio input when writing descriptions. It reflects my own perception, but I shall make an effort to start mentioning all the other senses as well.
One per thousand paper cranes
How much magic can each crane take
If magic can be explained...
Lovely, lovely weather today (which, I feel, is never the less ruined by the fact that it's a Monday. There is something about the sheer Monday-ness of it that is bound to cast a shadow on all things beautiful). I have a class in exactly 44 minutes, a midterm this afternoon with 499 other students (yay gigantic lecture halls) and here I sit, trying to remember the exact wordings to Dread Mary the Mermaid's song:
No gold or silver but buttons for me
No gold or silver but buttons
Gold and jewels are fine for fools
But buttons oh buttons oh buttons
No sanity, doesn't quite factor in either. It seldom does. Yesterday morning I, being strange and unusual in a dorm of other college students, got up early and went by, on my way out, to check up on my plants which are in the lounge and noticed Trevor sleeping on the floor by the coffee table. One learns, after a while, not to question such things. While on my way out there is a girl running around in an evening gown. One learns not to question those types of things too. Or why there's a plastic skull on a stick on the lounge table. College dorms, no matter where you are, have very cryptic factors built into it's very...er...wooden planks (was going to say 'stones'). I was contemplating (yesterday) writing a story about the elves who reshuffle your flashcards and steal your socks. It will be like the tale of "The Elves and the Shoemaker" except, obviously, not.
Good luck, Lucy, with your class scheduling (I'll have to start worrying about mine again in approximately one month). And as for the online catalogues...when I draw things chances are, more likely than not, that I'm hiding in the lounge where internet is not an option, so I was thinking more along the lines of a convenient way to just conjure cloth images in my head. I've realized that if there're guys around I'll just copy the style of their clothing. It made it easier. So that's a way to, if not solve, then at least prudently avoid the problem.
Everyone around me is going apartment hunting now. Alas, the season has begun!
[edit 19:15]
I focus too much on visual and audio input when writing descriptions. It reflects my own perception, but I shall make an effort to start mentioning all the other senses as well.
20060122
Recap: Blustery
Biking around at random and subsequently discovering what might be the most beautiful neighbourhood in Davis, where giant trees lines the paths and houses looked like they stepped out of fairytales. Figures. The unexplanable things happening unexpectedly, both good and bad.
Will get back there to take pictures the weekend after next weekend, possibly. (Will be in Cupertino next weekend just in time for New Year's which happens to fall, much to my relief, on a weekend.)
Bio midterm tomorrow. Peptidoglycan is my new word. It sounds funny even though its definition is humourless (the stuff of bacteria walls).
[edit 11:24]
Noted that A, I missed stochiometry for some reason. I was dreading the practice problems where you have to balance the redox equations (meaning with negative E charges!) and found that I was calmer after 3 problems than I was the entire two days. Stochiometry is therapeutic, this is disturbing in itself.
Noted B: I am attempting to draw half-full bodied pictures right now, since continuous practice generally does mean improvement for me (except with the negative sign issue), and realize that having no grasp of fashion is becoming a very big problem. I spent five minutes staring at the half-finished picture because I can't conjure a mental image of shoes that are not sneakers or tennis shoes. All my characters will be dressed in ugly t-shirts and jeans unless someone figures out a solution for me that does not require an indepth hour-long study with a fashion magazine.
Will get back there to take pictures the weekend after next weekend, possibly. (Will be in Cupertino next weekend just in time for New Year's which happens to fall, much to my relief, on a weekend.)
Bio midterm tomorrow. Peptidoglycan is my new word. It sounds funny even though its definition is humourless (the stuff of bacteria walls).
[edit 11:24]
Noted that A, I missed stochiometry for some reason. I was dreading the practice problems where you have to balance the redox equations (meaning with negative E charges!) and found that I was calmer after 3 problems than I was the entire two days. Stochiometry is therapeutic, this is disturbing in itself.
Noted B: I am attempting to draw half-full bodied pictures right now, since continuous practice generally does mean improvement for me (except with the negative sign issue), and realize that having no grasp of fashion is becoming a very big problem. I spent five minutes staring at the half-finished picture because I can't conjure a mental image of shoes that are not sneakers or tennis shoes. All my characters will be dressed in ugly t-shirts and jeans unless someone figures out a solution for me that does not require an indepth hour-long study with a fashion magazine.
20060121
Ranting: There's nothing wrong with the compass
We're always trying to get somewhere, some goal, some destination, something just out of reach. Some people have some vague idea of what they want to get, and others don't, resulting in a permanent state of subconscious agitation, feeling like they 'want more' even when they can't put into exact words what 'more' they want...
Then there're those who say that they're not getting anywhere and, liable to despair, they would repeat, like a mantra of hopelessness, "I'm not getting anywhere...I'm not getting anywhere...I'm not getting anywhere...."
But, ask yourself this, WHERE is it that you're trying to get to? Far too often you would receive blank looks, thoughtful pauses, and a grudging, "...good question." If you don't even know where you're trying to get to, then how can you possibly get there? And if you don't know how to get there, then how can you know what you must do to get there? Thus, answering the "I don't know what to do" side of the question....
Inevitably without directions we're doomed to travel in a circle, aimlessly wondering first one way, then another, eventually realizing and puzzling over why the scenary isn't changing and why the same grounds are being covered, over and over and over again. Pick a direction, any direction, because you can't know if you're going in the wrong direction, even, unless you're GOING in a direction, and the first step must begin somewhere.
Yet, the saddest thing is most people have already taken the first step, which is realizing that they're not going where, and there they hesitate....
Then there're those who say that they're not getting anywhere and, liable to despair, they would repeat, like a mantra of hopelessness, "I'm not getting anywhere...I'm not getting anywhere...I'm not getting anywhere...."
But, ask yourself this, WHERE is it that you're trying to get to? Far too often you would receive blank looks, thoughtful pauses, and a grudging, "...good question." If you don't even know where you're trying to get to, then how can you possibly get there? And if you don't know how to get there, then how can you know what you must do to get there? Thus, answering the "I don't know what to do" side of the question....
Inevitably without directions we're doomed to travel in a circle, aimlessly wondering first one way, then another, eventually realizing and puzzling over why the scenary isn't changing and why the same grounds are being covered, over and over and over again. Pick a direction, any direction, because you can't know if you're going in the wrong direction, even, unless you're GOING in a direction, and the first step must begin somewhere.
Yet, the saddest thing is most people have already taken the first step, which is realizing that they're not going where, and there they hesitate....
Recap: Life happens
...in accidents and surprises, as we have learned time and times again in bio.
First:
-time to loose wallet, thankfully the credit card's already invalid and the checking card needs PIN to get in so my biggest worries are my two library cards (reduced to one since no one from Yolo and use the Dr. King library card) and my driver's license...which you can't exactly 'use' directly. Still worried, still looking, needless to say. We'll see what happens.
-pay check. For work. For around 130 dollars. And yes these two happenings on the same day occurred to me as ironic. Also made me feel idiotic but that's in an ironic kind of way too.
Meanwhile (before discovering the loss of wallet) did have some fun with Annie yesterday when we went to check on our crops (taken picture of the field, now being over-taken by weeks, will post eventually) of plant bio. Then she went and 'introduced' me to SIMS2 and after a while we decided I should create a sim there and so I asked her to choose one from four names: Gary, Mike, Nick, and Zach, she picked Zach, so now there's now a strange version of Zach Dawson wandering around in her SIMS2 University (and I say strange because some workshop thing wasn't working on her computer so Zach ended up with strange, strange bright red hair and green eyes because hazel wasn't an option). A house is being built for him, I'm requesting a screenshot for obvious reasons.
And thank you Annie, for getting up early for me today and offering to go and check the bookstore with me. I know you are not a morning person.
[edit 18:38]
First W2 form, for the random day of job training that they paid me for. I'm filing a tax form over 33 dollars?
First:
-time to loose wallet, thankfully the credit card's already invalid and the checking card needs PIN to get in so my biggest worries are my two library cards (reduced to one since no one from Yolo and use the Dr. King library card) and my driver's license...which you can't exactly 'use' directly. Still worried, still looking, needless to say. We'll see what happens.
-pay check. For work. For around 130 dollars. And yes these two happenings on the same day occurred to me as ironic. Also made me feel idiotic but that's in an ironic kind of way too.
Meanwhile (before discovering the loss of wallet) did have some fun with Annie yesterday when we went to check on our crops (taken picture of the field, now being over-taken by weeks, will post eventually) of plant bio. Then she went and 'introduced' me to SIMS2 and after a while we decided I should create a sim there and so I asked her to choose one from four names: Gary, Mike, Nick, and Zach, she picked Zach, so now there's now a strange version of Zach Dawson wandering around in her SIMS2 University (and I say strange because some workshop thing wasn't working on her computer so Zach ended up with strange, strange bright red hair and green eyes because hazel wasn't an option). A house is being built for him, I'm requesting a screenshot for obvious reasons.
And thank you Annie, for getting up early for me today and offering to go and check the bookstore with me. I know you are not a morning person.
[edit 18:38]
First W2 form, for the random day of job training that they paid me for. I'm filing a tax form over 33 dollars?
20060120
Recap: The 'ic' of nomenclature
(which I still can't spell, thank you very much.)
It's time to balance those equations again, unavoidably, inevitably, painstakingly. The girl who sits next to me today was quite impressed that I knew combustion reactions make carbon dioxide and water. I wonder if she'd be so impressed if she knew how many mistakes I usually make trying to balance the charges on either side of the reactions, especially when you have to add electrons because, as you all well know, electrons have a negative charge and there are some neurons in my brain that gets hiccups from trying to ingest the idea of the little dash before the numbers.
I have given up all logical attempts to explain this glitch. Practice does not get rid of it, double checking does not get rid of it, writing out the problem in a tediously slow manner does nothing for it. In short, it's, I think, a system flaw.
Oh dear, and rebooting doesn't work either.
The lounge was more occupied than usual lately, possibly because of the sudden increase in studying preceeding the midterms. I wonder what that guy was doing throwing a ball of socks around though. But the first floor piano music goes on and my roommate comes back late as per usual and Ian's hair is bluer than ever so life here is still, more or less (ambivalence as a way of life, yes), normal.
And the aphids are still at the mums.
It's time to balance those equations again, unavoidably, inevitably, painstakingly. The girl who sits next to me today was quite impressed that I knew combustion reactions make carbon dioxide and water. I wonder if she'd be so impressed if she knew how many mistakes I usually make trying to balance the charges on either side of the reactions, especially when you have to add electrons because, as you all well know, electrons have a negative charge and there are some neurons in my brain that gets hiccups from trying to ingest the idea of the little dash before the numbers.
I have given up all logical attempts to explain this glitch. Practice does not get rid of it, double checking does not get rid of it, writing out the problem in a tediously slow manner does nothing for it. In short, it's, I think, a system flaw.
Oh dear, and rebooting doesn't work either.
The lounge was more occupied than usual lately, possibly because of the sudden increase in studying preceeding the midterms. I wonder what that guy was doing throwing a ball of socks around though. But the first floor piano music goes on and my roommate comes back late as per usual and Ian's hair is bluer than ever so life here is still, more or less (ambivalence as a way of life, yes), normal.
And the aphids are still at the mums.
20060119
Recap: Virtual everything
My chem class has chem labs, that you do in class, where you touch the glass equipments and measure out things and attempt to teach people how to use burets and light bunsen burners. My bio class has bio labs, that you do not do in class, where you drag micropippets using your cursor into RGB labeled testtubes and watch the animation of the bubbling happen as the liquid slowly turns dark brown to indicate the presence of sugar. (Benedict's solution over fire to detect maltose, for those of you who are curious). It is very virtual. It is called a virtual lab. It's available on the CD that came with my textbook which also came with a password for me to register online where we have more online things such as quizzes and graphs that we're required to complete online for points (some 'quizzes' are over 40 problems long). Which reminds me to mention that, did you know, my entire chem postlab write up, complete with calculations, are to be completed and turned in online under a specific website? This is, of course, not counting the daily annoucements and emails the teacher use using the school's very nifty, but very unusual online system.
One has to wonder, with the so readily-available online interactions, at the state of health of real-life interactions.
Virtual lab sure as heck are safer though. No need to re-memorize the poison control number (which is probably different here, anyway).
Random note: this is it, David and Trevor have officially moved into 3rd floor Miller hall now. Random free guitar concerts though. (aHEM).
Also, thank you, Ms. Uji, for allowing me to get 100% on a quiz in a class where supposidely 50% of the students are failing.
And thank you, memory, for recalling the crucial difference of the oxygen on the hydroxyl group from the second carbon of the deoxyribose sugar (I am in all honesty, and yes, it's as tedious to memorize as it sounds like it might be).
Happy Thursday.
One has to wonder, with the so readily-available online interactions, at the state of health of real-life interactions.
Virtual lab sure as heck are safer though. No need to re-memorize the poison control number (which is probably different here, anyway).
Random note: this is it, David and Trevor have officially moved into 3rd floor Miller hall now. Random free guitar concerts though. (aHEM).
Also, thank you, Ms. Uji, for allowing me to get 100% on a quiz in a class where supposidely 50% of the students are failing.
And thank you, memory, for recalling the crucial difference of the oxygen on the hydroxyl group from the second carbon of the deoxyribose sugar (I am in all honesty, and yes, it's as tedious to memorize as it sounds like it might be).
Happy Thursday.
20060118
Recap: Leaning
College is a place, I'm convinced, where you can learn the most random things provided that you have the time and patience for them.
I'm making a note on the decreasing average hair-length of the girls in my dorm, though I don't expect I'll be conforming till about June, at which point, I suppose, if I'm still set on majoring in plant bio (which is very likely), I'll have to significantly decrease my hair length.
Also, I think our building is starting to develope its own microclimates. How is it possible for one room to be colder than the hallway, then another warmer, when our control of room temperature is limited to about 4 degrees F? It must be the windows. Except I think for the colder room the windows were closed.
Mysterious. Yes.
I'm making a note on the decreasing average hair-length of the girls in my dorm, though I don't expect I'll be conforming till about June, at which point, I suppose, if I'm still set on majoring in plant bio (which is very likely), I'll have to significantly decrease my hair length.
Also, I think our building is starting to develope its own microclimates. How is it possible for one room to be colder than the hallway, then another warmer, when our control of room temperature is limited to about 4 degrees F? It must be the windows. Except I think for the colder room the windows were closed.
Mysterious. Yes.
20060117
Recap: Untitled
I'm convinced that writing longhand will save my eyes a lot of trouble (staring at the screen for long periods of time = bad idea), but after attempting that continuously I've noticed that there's the on-going problem with me working out the story while writing then forgetting things by the time I got to writing them. My writing speed by hand does not match my thought process speed. And my cursive is crabbed enough as it is and there's no way I can speed THAT up. Consequently, over the past few weeks, I think I'm learning to write out entire (short! of course) stories in my head, which is slightly unnerving because I can visualize each word exactly and then go back and almost edit them...sort of memory commitment before I DO write them down on paper, then get them (eventually) into the computer.
It doesn't do alot for making me sleep at night, and it doesn't work well when I'm stressed but I can say this--if I DO manage to get this skill down perfectly I'll be saving a LOT of paper in the future.
We Davis folks are very environment-friendly. We also recycle and have rabbits the size of small cats. (Grande!)
All's quiet on the western front. The approaching silence signifies the approaching midterm, coming soon to a campus near you.
(No I don't know why I sound this way right now either.)
[edit 10:53]
Friended by Susan Zhang from Canada.... This is a very strange experience for me.
It doesn't do alot for making me sleep at night, and it doesn't work well when I'm stressed but I can say this--if I DO manage to get this skill down perfectly I'll be saving a LOT of paper in the future.
We Davis folks are very environment-friendly. We also recycle and have rabbits the size of small cats. (Grande!)
All's quiet on the western front. The approaching silence signifies the approaching midterm, coming soon to a campus near you.
(No I don't know why I sound this way right now either.)
[edit 10:53]
Friended by Susan Zhang from Canada.... This is a very strange experience for me.
20060116
Recap: More chickens
I got to work in the kitchen where they served what people generally referred to as "traditional American food" and last night was the night of rosemary chicken. Until the smell started to make me feel faintly nauseous at which point I diverted my attention into psychoanalyzing the people when they came to pick up food (what I do is put so much potato, vegetables, and chicken per plate and then set the plates out on the hot...plate (!) to keep warm and the people come and pick up a dish). After explaining it to the guy who was working with me, we amused ourselves for the better part of the shift by watching people choose their plate of chicken out of the corner of our eyes and ranking them on the level of decisiveness. Some people look over the entire selection first, pick a dish, and then go, that's decisive. The most indecisive people would touch several dishes, finally pick one, then maybe put it down again and pick another one. Most people fall somewhere in the middle unless they're the ones who don't even bother looking and just randomly grab something and go, in which case they're probably running out of time for something.
It was either that or recite the locations and functions of glycoproteins in my head, and this was much more interesting.
I also should mention that most of the people should (theoretically) be returning today and that Molly stayed here the entire weekend (and watered my plants for me on Saturday because I wasn't here). Speaking of which, I haven't a clue where she went last night and her radio alarm went off this morning and I hope I turned it off corectly (having never had to deal with that particular type of alarm clocks before).
It's a grey sort of day today.
[edit 10:19]
I'm being friended by a namesake from a sister institution.
... ... ...
It was either that or recite the locations and functions of glycoproteins in my head, and this was much more interesting.
I also should mention that most of the people should (theoretically) be returning today and that Molly stayed here the entire weekend (and watered my plants for me on Saturday because I wasn't here). Speaking of which, I haven't a clue where she went last night and her radio alarm went off this morning and I hope I turned it off corectly (having never had to deal with that particular type of alarm clocks before).
It's a grey sort of day today.
[edit 10:19]
I'm being friended by a namesake from a sister institution.
... ... ...
20060115
Recap: By chance...
I went to check my email and saw this message:
Susan Zhang has requested to add you as a friend, but before we can
do that, you must confirm that you are in fact friends with Susan.
To confirm this request, go to:
http://ucdavis.facebook.com/confirminvite.php
Thanks,
The Facebook Team.
And my first reaction is, of course, oooookay, what is this all about? A system error? And then it turns out that there's another Susan Zhang from OHIO STATE (?!) who's going around to see how many people have the same registered name and friending them. She's Chinese and about a year older than me and her major's poli sci and her listed interests are...well...mind boggling for me:
Interests: Rabies , Scaring Babies , Hellsing , Yoshitoshi Tsukioka , Guns , Martial Arts , Sharp Shiny Things , Cheese , Indian Food , Japanese Food , Good Food , Roses , Finding My Homework , Epic Literature , Satire , Misanthropy , Narcolepsy , International Crime , Eating Vegetarians , NCIS , Guns , Sleeping , KOTOR
But she also likes CATCH-22...so that's something.
A Susan by any other name...
This is a heck of a way to get back to hi-speed internet. (Oh yes, hi from Davis.)
To Lucy: I found out about the credit card because there were things on my bill that I didn't buy. (There was something from Florida. FLORIDA.)
Susan Zhang has requested to add you as a friend, but before we can
do that, you must confirm that you are in fact friends with Susan.
To confirm this request, go to:
http://ucdavis.facebook.com/confirminvite.php
Thanks,
The Facebook Team.
And my first reaction is, of course, oooookay, what is this all about? A system error? And then it turns out that there's another Susan Zhang from OHIO STATE (?!) who's going around to see how many people have the same registered name and friending them. She's Chinese and about a year older than me and her major's poli sci and her listed interests are...well...mind boggling for me:
Interests: Rabies , Scaring Babies , Hellsing , Yoshitoshi Tsukioka , Guns , Martial Arts , Sharp Shiny Things , Cheese , Indian Food , Japanese Food , Good Food , Roses , Finding My Homework , Epic Literature , Satire , Misanthropy , Narcolepsy , International Crime , Eating Vegetarians , NCIS , Guns , Sleeping , KOTOR
But she also likes CATCH-22...so that's something.
A Susan by any other name...
This is a heck of a way to get back to hi-speed internet. (Oh yes, hi from Davis.)
To Lucy: I found out about the credit card because there were things on my bill that I didn't buy. (There was something from Florida. FLORIDA.)
20060114
Recap: All in PINs
My house is slightly warmer now, either because Spring is coming or the heavy cloud-layer which no doubt is insulating the atmosphere quite well. Either way the fungi are still running wild around here.
I have reasons to believe that my mother cleans my room every week, even when I'm not living in it, which I find very touching, especially since it means no dusting for me when I come back. And no mushrooms growing anywhere either, that might've been a bit disturbing.
Not much else from home, since home means peace and quiet and householdy tales such as when father got attacked by the crab when he tried to cook it or my grandmother's over-the-phone report of how she did the laundry and left it out (freeze-dry in Beijing, where it gets very cold) and then when she tried to separate the frozen-together articles of clothing the cloth tore or mother's mid-night adventure with the clock's too-loud ticking. Ah the memories.
According to my agenda today's New Years of the Russian Orthodox, so happy new year's to all my friends who celebrate it out there. Also according to my agenda today's Pungol of the Hindu tradition, which means much less to me because I don't know anyone who follows that tradition.
First:
-issue with credit card. Someone got my account number so the card has to be closed down and a new one issued. How exciting. (Pardon my sarcasm.)
I have reasons to believe that my mother cleans my room every week, even when I'm not living in it, which I find very touching, especially since it means no dusting for me when I come back. And no mushrooms growing anywhere either, that might've been a bit disturbing.
Not much else from home, since home means peace and quiet and householdy tales such as when father got attacked by the crab when he tried to cook it or my grandmother's over-the-phone report of how she did the laundry and left it out (freeze-dry in Beijing, where it gets very cold) and then when she tried to separate the frozen-together articles of clothing the cloth tore or mother's mid-night adventure with the clock's too-loud ticking. Ah the memories.
According to my agenda today's New Years of the Russian Orthodox, so happy new year's to all my friends who celebrate it out there. Also according to my agenda today's Pungol of the Hindu tradition, which means much less to me because I don't know anyone who follows that tradition.
First:
-issue with credit card. Someone got my account number so the card has to be closed down and a new one issued. How exciting. (Pardon my sarcasm.)
20060113
Recap: Mike & Ike
Note to self: when management feels bad about something, they get you candy.
Also, I'd like to make another note that rice should not be cooked in ovens. Or at least, in whatever manner that they were being cooked generally in the ovens here. They were ROCK SOLID and first a guy, then me, had to use a METAL spatula (originally we had plastic, but the other guy decided that metal'll make the job easier) to chop at it. And stab it. And jab it. Repeatedly. The rice was dying twice. It wasn't so much trying to serve rice as waging a full-scaled war against it and trying to kill it. While attacking a particularly vicious lump Daniel (the cook there) mimicked the noise of a dying creature.
I wish. I never got that clump of rice to unclump so it had to go out there like that.
There it is now, probably still in a clump and causing indigestion somewhere.
Life here in the dorm has settled back into its usual (for I hesitate to use the term 'normal', especially as what might be considered 'normal' in one building might be considered 'insane' in another. Each building has their own theme, it seems) pattern. Meaning that our lounge is usually empty save one or two people or the occasional nighttime moments where people suddenly aggregate there (from nowhere, and VERY suddenly, it feels like). Meaning passing people in the hallway who you may or may not know and smiling at them anyway and have them smile back. Meaning academic jokes in the hallways and bleary-eyed floormates in the morning (or noon, in some cases). Meaning random thumping and screeches and laughter.
Yep, a quarter does not officially start until the second week.
[edit 16:26]
Greetings from fair Cupertino, and blessings on my father's continuous willingness to drive long distances.
Also, I'd like to make another note that rice should not be cooked in ovens. Or at least, in whatever manner that they were being cooked generally in the ovens here. They were ROCK SOLID and first a guy, then me, had to use a METAL spatula (originally we had plastic, but the other guy decided that metal'll make the job easier) to chop at it. And stab it. And jab it. Repeatedly. The rice was dying twice. It wasn't so much trying to serve rice as waging a full-scaled war against it and trying to kill it. While attacking a particularly vicious lump Daniel (the cook there) mimicked the noise of a dying creature.
I wish. I never got that clump of rice to unclump so it had to go out there like that.
There it is now, probably still in a clump and causing indigestion somewhere.
Life here in the dorm has settled back into its usual (for I hesitate to use the term 'normal', especially as what might be considered 'normal' in one building might be considered 'insane' in another. Each building has their own theme, it seems) pattern. Meaning that our lounge is usually empty save one or two people or the occasional nighttime moments where people suddenly aggregate there (from nowhere, and VERY suddenly, it feels like). Meaning passing people in the hallway who you may or may not know and smiling at them anyway and have them smile back. Meaning academic jokes in the hallways and bleary-eyed floormates in the morning (or noon, in some cases). Meaning random thumping and screeches and laughter.
Yep, a quarter does not officially start until the second week.
[edit 16:26]
Greetings from fair Cupertino, and blessings on my father's continuous willingness to drive long distances.
20060112
Recap: But for the chameleon's dish
Have had my first bio quiz today (we get one weekly, doens't this just bring back the memories...) and had no clue what was about to be tested on and spend too much time memorizing the diameter of starch granules under the microscope (75 nanometers, thank you very much) but as always it didn't turn out as expected.
My life, if written out as an equation, has a permanent serendipity factor just to the left of the equal signs.
Covered 6 chapters of bio in 5 lectures though. That is something.
Also, I'm 90% sure I'm developing a case of insomnia, which means that I should either learn to sleep soundly (but I shouldn't, considering the amount of random knocking that comes before, around, or after 2am) or learn how to control my thought process enough so when I need to stop thinking, I can. This is probably what I'll aim for. No doubt will take a lot of work and give myself a headache trying, but I'll get a headache anyway, attempt or no, so it all figures.
They re-varnished part of our lounge again, the other day. It's all shiny now.
First:
-issue with management at work (on what turned out to be my third day, yes)- they changed my shift schedule without telling me, so halfway through studying for bio the manager called me and asked, "Hey, aren't you coming to work today?"
-time late late for work (see above)
My life, if written out as an equation, has a permanent serendipity factor just to the left of the equal signs.
Covered 6 chapters of bio in 5 lectures though. That is something.
Also, I'm 90% sure I'm developing a case of insomnia, which means that I should either learn to sleep soundly (but I shouldn't, considering the amount of random knocking that comes before, around, or after 2am) or learn how to control my thought process enough so when I need to stop thinking, I can. This is probably what I'll aim for. No doubt will take a lot of work and give myself a headache trying, but I'll get a headache anyway, attempt or no, so it all figures.
They re-varnished part of our lounge again, the other day. It's all shiny now.
First:
-issue with management at work (on what turned out to be my third day, yes)- they changed my shift schedule without telling me, so halfway through studying for bio the manager called me and asked, "Hey, aren't you coming to work today?"
-time late late for work (see above)
20060111
Recap: It actually looks like January...
With luck, by the end of this week, I will know exactly what's expected from me for each class. Also, with luck, all my books would have arrived by Friday. A little bit of a strain on luck, perhaps, but there's been worse.
And then I can also stop getting up way too early for every thing and show up only 10 minutes ahead of time instead of, say, 20 minutes ahead of time because I'll know exactly where the places are and what the road conditions and how long it'll take me to get to a class at 8 in the morning as opposed to, say, 3pm in the afternoon.
And THEN the quarter will have officially started, and the proper inaugurations, in the form of the first round of midterms, will occur.
Storytelling is very awesome, just a general note to self. Some of the people are VERY good at public performances while I'll be trying to get over my fear of public speaking, still. For my first fairytale I'll be doing the Golden Bird (yes, the thing from writers' circle, a year ago, because I already sort of know the story and therefore would have less to memorize) and so I'll be ...practicing telling the stories to people for the next few days, I imagine.
This should be interesting.
First:
-plant of mine to survive (because I'm sure it is going to keep on living now) about 6 hours in the car, two transplants, and two changes of environment (African Marigold, Tagetes erecta). I'm noting it because it symbolizes my promotion to the next level of gardening skills. Right.
-guy to salute me. Who is from my bio class, has blue hair (copper-sulfate-hue), and lives on my floor and somehow the three are not mutually exclusive.
And then I can also stop getting up way too early for every thing and show up only 10 minutes ahead of time instead of, say, 20 minutes ahead of time because I'll know exactly where the places are and what the road conditions and how long it'll take me to get to a class at 8 in the morning as opposed to, say, 3pm in the afternoon.
And THEN the quarter will have officially started, and the proper inaugurations, in the form of the first round of midterms, will occur.
Storytelling is very awesome, just a general note to self. Some of the people are VERY good at public performances while I'll be trying to get over my fear of public speaking, still. For my first fairytale I'll be doing the Golden Bird (yes, the thing from writers' circle, a year ago, because I already sort of know the story and therefore would have less to memorize) and so I'll be ...practicing telling the stories to people for the next few days, I imagine.
This should be interesting.
First:
-plant of mine to survive (because I'm sure it is going to keep on living now) about 6 hours in the car, two transplants, and two changes of environment (African Marigold, Tagetes erecta). I'm noting it because it symbolizes my promotion to the next level of gardening skills. Right.
-guy to salute me. Who is from my bio class, has blue hair (copper-sulfate-hue), and lives on my floor and somehow the three are not mutually exclusive.
20060110
Non Sequitor: Firsts
On the same impulse as the first tree-hug, I'm going to list some firsts as they happen this year. It should be interesting record-keeping, especially at the end of the year. It's January. It's a good time to start.
For the first long distance bus trip without parents, the first time on a roof, first struggle with college schedule, first job, first truffle, first harvest of radishes when the season for it was past....
So far this year...
First:
-article of clothing bought with my own salary. Black shoes with non-slip soles as required of working. Actually sort of comfortable if not for the new-shoes hardness, which is why I'm going to wear it all the way till my next shift on Friday, in hope to wear it out.
-slice of banana cream pie (very interesting. At least that's what I hope it was).
-time inside large walk-in fridges (freezing. Literally. I grabbed the stuff and bolted out.)
-day of work. (Yeah my list isn't in order.) Bewildering. But I was polite and people were disturbingly helpful so it went rather well.
-try of Carribbean food (crepe of some sort with pineapple chutney. Which reminds me that all in this school year, thanks to the DC, I've tried my first Italian and French crusine, which were rather strange.)
-lessons in Latin (thank you, Annie)
-lesson outside of classroom, (as in actual lecture, not lab or fieldtrip, that is listed in my course schedule as a class and that is giving me 4 credits towards my GE requirement) from beginning to end, while sitting on the ground (considering my major, however, this will be occuring rather more often later, I think)
For the first long distance bus trip without parents, the first time on a roof, first struggle with college schedule, first job, first truffle, first harvest of radishes when the season for it was past....
So far this year...
First:
-article of clothing bought with my own salary. Black shoes with non-slip soles as required of working. Actually sort of comfortable if not for the new-shoes hardness, which is why I'm going to wear it all the way till my next shift on Friday, in hope to wear it out.
-slice of banana cream pie (very interesting. At least that's what I hope it was).
-time inside large walk-in fridges (freezing. Literally. I grabbed the stuff and bolted out.)
-day of work. (Yeah my list isn't in order.) Bewildering. But I was polite and people were disturbingly helpful so it went rather well.
-try of Carribbean food (crepe of some sort with pineapple chutney. Which reminds me that all in this school year, thanks to the DC, I've tried my first Italian and French crusine, which were rather strange.)
-lessons in Latin (thank you, Annie)
-lesson outside of classroom, (as in actual lecture, not lab or fieldtrip, that is listed in my course schedule as a class and that is giving me 4 credits towards my GE requirement) from beginning to end, while sitting on the ground (considering my major, however, this will be occuring rather more often later, I think)
Recap: Purple syrups and orange detergents
Ended up working from 7 to 12 today in the Grill (one of the open-walled kitchens in the DC). It was very dark when I got up and Molly (if she woke up then) probably thought I was insane. After taking a glance outside of the campus at 6:30 in the morning (or 6:23, as my self-timed waking up went), I figured that I was probably insane too.
But hey, if you're a morning person, you might as well take advantage of it. I can probably work any shift I have time for in the morning, since no other self-respecting student would want to get up this early.
Oh yes, the kitchen I was in made pancakes, hashbrown, and two kinds of eggs. I never realized eggs could smell so...eggy when being cooked. And after smelling it continuously for three hours...I think I'll avoid eggs for a while now. The cook randomly asked me while working if I liked the music they were playing, which I had not paid attention to, at all, and it turned out that I had been inhaling eggs and listening to SWING MUSIC all morning long. The cook was happy. It was Benny Goodman or something, his favorite artist. He ranted and I felt utterly lost but at least I've heard of the name before. Then it's toasting bread and preparing lettuces and cheese for hamburgers. I was working right next to the grill which had open fires going on in it to grill the meat and well, I can honestly say that working there means that you'll never be cold, even if you're wearing a short-sleeved uniform in January.
Aghk, bio lecture follows, with a bio seminar. The teacher has a tendency to talk too fast... but I think I've reached a new level in note-taking now:
H-bond:, e.g., part. - of O => part. + of H, weakest of 3, V. impt b/c specl prop. of H20
Translation:
Hydrogen-bound: examplified by how the partially negative charge of oxygen is attracted to the partially positive charge of hydrogen, it's the weakest of 3 chemical bounds, and VERY important because it gives rise to the special properties of water.
But hey, if you're a morning person, you might as well take advantage of it. I can probably work any shift I have time for in the morning, since no other self-respecting student would want to get up this early.
Oh yes, the kitchen I was in made pancakes, hashbrown, and two kinds of eggs. I never realized eggs could smell so...eggy when being cooked. And after smelling it continuously for three hours...I think I'll avoid eggs for a while now. The cook randomly asked me while working if I liked the music they were playing, which I had not paid attention to, at all, and it turned out that I had been inhaling eggs and listening to SWING MUSIC all morning long. The cook was happy. It was Benny Goodman or something, his favorite artist. He ranted and I felt utterly lost but at least I've heard of the name before. Then it's toasting bread and preparing lettuces and cheese for hamburgers. I was working right next to the grill which had open fires going on in it to grill the meat and well, I can honestly say that working there means that you'll never be cold, even if you're wearing a short-sleeved uniform in January.
Aghk, bio lecture follows, with a bio seminar. The teacher has a tendency to talk too fast... but I think I've reached a new level in note-taking now:
H-bond:, e.g., part. - of O => part. + of H, weakest of 3, V. impt b/c specl prop. of H20
Translation:
Hydrogen-bound: examplified by how the partially negative charge of oxygen is attracted to the partially positive charge of hydrogen, it's the weakest of 3 chemical bounds, and VERY important because it gives rise to the special properties of water.
20060109
Recap: Counting time with post-its
The continuum of my academic career (I, at the moment, hesitate at using the word 'progression') can be observed by the colour of post-its. Having started with the pink layer, now I've gradually gone through the green layer and am approaching the blue layer. Eventually I'll end up with green, and then pink again, so it can be nice and symbolic.
A lot of people were over visiting their friends here last weekend. I wonder if it's something commonly observed. Or maybe it's just subconscious practicality--now that they know that the first two weeks of each quarter are the easiest, at no tests, and now that the weather over here seems oddly consistent with blue skies and occasional cloudy moments that were immediately ruined by the high winds, which brings back the blue skies. As someone who stares at the sky when arriving at the class too early, I'm not complaining. It's very pretty.
Slightly panicky at the moment because my cc lab notebook have not yet arrived (they were suppose to come Saturday) and I need them this afternoon. Seldon crises, oh ho. No, not nearly, but we'll see what happens.
A lot of people were over visiting their friends here last weekend. I wonder if it's something commonly observed. Or maybe it's just subconscious practicality--now that they know that the first two weeks of each quarter are the easiest, at no tests, and now that the weather over here seems oddly consistent with blue skies and occasional cloudy moments that were immediately ruined by the high winds, which brings back the blue skies. As someone who stares at the sky when arriving at the class too early, I'm not complaining. It's very pretty.
Slightly panicky at the moment because my cc lab notebook have not yet arrived (they were suppose to come Saturday) and I need them this afternoon. Seldon crises, oh ho. No, not nearly, but we'll see what happens.
20060108
Recap: Wagon-pulling stars
Still have not figured out what's expected of me in my science classes yet, but I HAVE read the book and I HAVE done the practice problems so whatever else that comes will come and there's no point in worrying about it until it gets here.
And I won't even have to wait that long. I've both classes tomorrow.
Noticed that the biology book I'm using is the 7th edition of the 3rd edition that I used in my 11th grade year. The 7th edition involves a co-author. Classic symbiotic relationship. Evolution much? Ha.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, I'm not quite sure what else I should be doing today (have spent morning investigating train stations and book stores), I think I might room clean (my side...anyway, I'm not sure which of Molly's stuff are moveable and which aren't) later, and if there's time left, write/sketch. And if there's STILL time left I'll...I don't know...teach myself coin tricks or something. My backpack is accumulating change again. Maybe I'll meet a leprechaun.(sp?)
Oh yes. In the past week Molly's bike has taken a bite out of her jeans and consequently got stolen. The bike, not the jeans. And no, it's not 'consequently' either (obviously). I just hypothesized that she was so upset about the jeans that she might've subconsciously cursed the bike so it got stolen. But she'll have to get another bike, because the majority of people who goes places in Davis own bikes. The bike lanes are wider than car lanes in parts, anyway.
And I won't even have to wait that long. I've both classes tomorrow.
Noticed that the biology book I'm using is the 7th edition of the 3rd edition that I used in my 11th grade year. The 7th edition involves a co-author. Classic symbiotic relationship. Evolution much? Ha.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, I'm not quite sure what else I should be doing today (have spent morning investigating train stations and book stores), I think I might room clean (my side...anyway, I'm not sure which of Molly's stuff are moveable and which aren't) later, and if there's time left, write/sketch. And if there's STILL time left I'll...I don't know...teach myself coin tricks or something. My backpack is accumulating change again. Maybe I'll meet a leprechaun.(sp?)
Oh yes. In the past week Molly's bike has taken a bite out of her jeans and consequently got stolen. The bike, not the jeans. And no, it's not 'consequently' either (obviously). I just hypothesized that she was so upset about the jeans that she might've subconsciously cursed the bike so it got stolen. But she'll have to get another bike, because the majority of people who goes places in Davis own bikes. The bike lanes are wider than car lanes in parts, anyway.
20060107
Recap: Yesterday of yore
My day yesterday started at what I think must be around 6:30ish, since Molly was making attempts to get up early. Unfortunately, after her alarm went off, she was still in bed and I was wide-awake, lying there until my own alarm went off at 7 so--get up, get ready, and off to class, which is at 8.
I missed almost 15 minutes of my first class.
By going to the wrong room.
Here's how: on my schedule, it says Chem under 8-9 and Chem under 9-10 so I brightly assumed it must be one class and went to the room that has only "Friday" written under it. There's actually another room that has Monday through Friday written underneath it, and it turns out I go to that room first, finish the lecture, then go to the other room (all different buildings too, yes) which is my discussion.
Guess what I learned in chem yesterday? Atomic numbers. They number atoms based on the number of protons. How utterly uncomprehensible. You know what else? Atoms are not solid balls (the teacher actually said this sentence, word for word). Perfectly earth-shattering discovery, I tell you.
There were a few people from my floor who're also in this class and while going back to our rooms we were just making fun of all those stuff. Did you know we're still going by the definition that includes atoms as indestructible particles?
OMG atoms have orbitals? WTH? (Pardon the sarcasm, I can't help it. Ms. Uji, I'm forever in your debt.)
I was tired enough to try to take a nap when I got back, but taking naps during day time just didn't work out for me. Work started at 12pm and my currently assigned role is basically like that of a waiter/waitress except I don't wait on people, but being continuously on your feet and moving is a great exercise if done for a prolonged period of time. Aside from that, I learned three main things from my first day of work: 1. That people have a strange tendency for placing the salt-shakers upside-down in the wire holders, so the first time I move the wire holder I wondered why salt was getting all over the place... And it happened at FAR too many tables. Isn't noon too early to be drinking? 2. Dried ketchup cling to tabletops in astonishing ways. They should consider making a superglue from it. 3. The great magic of uniforms. When you're wearing a uniform you cease being an individual and become one of the faceless, foreign mass that no one recognizes. The job wasn't particularly mentally demanding and so I was forming all sorts of hypotheces (sp?) about that, which I might try at my next shift.
Also, they had me order special (non-slip soles) shoes for work, which came. Which I dropped off afterwork and then went downtown with Annie, where I figured it's a get-clothing sort of day and finally (FINALLY) got a Davis sweater. That was still over-priced, obviously, but not as much as the bookstore, where I think they're selling sweaters at around 50 dollars. A thick fog came up at around four and we decided that riding bikes after dark in a fog was probably a bad idea, went back, dropped off our bikes, and wandered around in the university mall across the street from campus (remember the World Market, Anna? We visited there too, they sell fake bamboo sticks at 10$ each and I don't know why either, so don't ask). Molly's friends came over and camped out on the floor which was...interesting. Four person per room. Wow.
My agenda tells me it's Christmas, The Blessing of the Water in Armenia yesterday. Um. Happy holidays, Lucy?
The calendar these two days have been cultural events and tips about carrying your passport.
I missed almost 15 minutes of my first class.
By going to the wrong room.
Here's how: on my schedule, it says Chem under 8-9 and Chem under 9-10 so I brightly assumed it must be one class and went to the room that has only "Friday" written under it. There's actually another room that has Monday through Friday written underneath it, and it turns out I go to that room first, finish the lecture, then go to the other room (all different buildings too, yes) which is my discussion.
Guess what I learned in chem yesterday? Atomic numbers. They number atoms based on the number of protons. How utterly uncomprehensible. You know what else? Atoms are not solid balls (the teacher actually said this sentence, word for word). Perfectly earth-shattering discovery, I tell you.
There were a few people from my floor who're also in this class and while going back to our rooms we were just making fun of all those stuff. Did you know we're still going by the definition that includes atoms as indestructible particles?
OMG atoms have orbitals? WTH? (Pardon the sarcasm, I can't help it. Ms. Uji, I'm forever in your debt.)
I was tired enough to try to take a nap when I got back, but taking naps during day time just didn't work out for me. Work started at 12pm and my currently assigned role is basically like that of a waiter/waitress except I don't wait on people, but being continuously on your feet and moving is a great exercise if done for a prolonged period of time. Aside from that, I learned three main things from my first day of work: 1. That people have a strange tendency for placing the salt-shakers upside-down in the wire holders, so the first time I move the wire holder I wondered why salt was getting all over the place... And it happened at FAR too many tables. Isn't noon too early to be drinking? 2. Dried ketchup cling to tabletops in astonishing ways. They should consider making a superglue from it. 3. The great magic of uniforms. When you're wearing a uniform you cease being an individual and become one of the faceless, foreign mass that no one recognizes. The job wasn't particularly mentally demanding and so I was forming all sorts of hypotheces (sp?) about that, which I might try at my next shift.
Also, they had me order special (non-slip soles) shoes for work, which came. Which I dropped off afterwork and then went downtown with Annie, where I figured it's a get-clothing sort of day and finally (FINALLY) got a Davis sweater. That was still over-priced, obviously, but not as much as the bookstore, where I think they're selling sweaters at around 50 dollars. A thick fog came up at around four and we decided that riding bikes after dark in a fog was probably a bad idea, went back, dropped off our bikes, and wandered around in the university mall across the street from campus (remember the World Market, Anna? We visited there too, they sell fake bamboo sticks at 10$ each and I don't know why either, so don't ask). Molly's friends came over and camped out on the floor which was...interesting. Four person per room. Wow.
My agenda tells me it's Christmas, The Blessing of the Water in Armenia yesterday. Um. Happy holidays, Lucy?
The calendar these two days have been cultural events and tips about carrying your passport.
20060106
20060105
Recap: Conversions
I'd almost forgotten how much conversion and math we had to do in chem, what with the sig figs and all that. Apparently for this class I should start memorizing the English-metric-scientific converions...5/9 x(F-32) for C and reverse going from Celsius , 273.15 from C to K, 2.54 cm per in and .4536kg per lb. Happy stuff. According to my previous quarter of psychology, I will remember much better if I were emotionally excited about the information processed, but it's very hard to be excited with something like this.
Oh look: it's a hectare! Gasp. No really.
All science classes so far are very strange, still don't know what the teacher's expecting (any of them). Dorm was very eventful last night because people were watching the Rose Bowl (I think) and you can hear random cheering all over the place. Of course there're random thumping noises. There're always random thumping noises in a student dorm. Sometimes punctuated by yowls and screams.
Oh look: it's a hectare! Gasp. No really.
All science classes so far are very strange, still don't know what the teacher's expecting (any of them). Dorm was very eventful last night because people were watching the Rose Bowl (I think) and you can hear random cheering all over the place. Of course there're random thumping noises. There're always random thumping noises in a student dorm. Sometimes punctuated by yowls and screams.
20060104
Non Sequitors: Just because
I really have weird quotes saved in my old notebook:
From the college-essay sleepover:
"This is what we talk about during slumber parties--"
"--'truth or dare'--"
"--what's your greatest school crush--"
"--my APUSH book."
From 1st period Lit H.:
"Embrace the materialism...it's fun!"
...
"Any questions?"
"...we're depressed...?"
"That's not a question, that's a fact."
...
"You know what? The girl's BLIND!"
...
"Oh look the guys is dead."
...
"That's the bell--now you get away (from me)."
From random moments during the year:
"I'm insane, don't mind me."
...
"I think thinking about death is very unproductive."
...
"How can she (Aurora) know anything about love and romance if she's being living in a forest with three old ladies her whole life?"
"It's the hormones."
...
"Oooo disorders!"
...
"I'm feeling happy! Sorry I stepped on you. I'm feeling happy!"
...
"You guys look like bums it looks so cool!"
From APUSH book:
"It is a choice betwen evils, and I'm going to shut my eyes, hold my nose, vote, go home, and disinfect myself."
...
"...you go home and wring personality out of your clothes." (I think this's refering to meeting Teddy Roosevelt.
With regards to HAMLET:
"I know what happened--they all die!"
For the records.
And it really is very amusing.
From the college-essay sleepover:
"This is what we talk about during slumber parties--"
"--'truth or dare'--"
"--what's your greatest school crush--"
"--my APUSH book."
From 1st period Lit H.:
"Embrace the materialism...it's fun!"
...
"Any questions?"
"...we're depressed...?"
"That's not a question, that's a fact."
...
"You know what? The girl's BLIND!"
...
"Oh look the guys is dead."
...
"That's the bell--now you get away (from me)."
From random moments during the year:
"I'm insane, don't mind me."
...
"I think thinking about death is very unproductive."
...
"How can she (Aurora) know anything about love and romance if she's being living in a forest with three old ladies her whole life?"
"It's the hormones."
...
"Oooo disorders!"
...
"I'm feeling happy! Sorry I stepped on you. I'm feeling happy!"
...
"You guys look like bums it looks so cool!"
From APUSH book:
"It is a choice betwen evils, and I'm going to shut my eyes, hold my nose, vote, go home, and disinfect myself."
...
"...you go home and wring personality out of your clothes." (I think this's refering to meeting Teddy Roosevelt.
With regards to HAMLET:
"I know what happened--they all die!"
For the records.
And it really is very amusing.
Recap: What's matter
First chemistry class after 4 years feel VERY strange. The class began with two TA setting two hydrogen-filled balloons afire. Yes explosion. Yes two large balls of flame. Grand entrance by the teacher who apparently likes very, very bad jokes. (I zoned out by the time he was telling something about why an elephant can't be on TV.)
I went inside our sci lab building for the first time today and it's NICE. As in, the floors are shiny and it looks rather modern for a science building. There's also a sort of lounge place on the first floor with a cafe (in SCIENCE LAB BUILDING!! Makes you wonder about the food...) and of course it's lovely and warm in there which makes it all the nicer, as far as I'm concerned.
Someone took the "Academics" posting board on our floor and wrote mock-assignments on it that looks like it's from calc mostly because it's followed by some of the really long integration formulas (for those of you who know what I'm talking about, these were the formulas that Mr. Ferrante told us we DIDN'T have to memorize that we worked by referencing them constantly from the back of the book, yes, THOSE ones, with u and A and B and C). I wonder what that's about. Also, two guys made name tags for themselves, mimicking the style of the nametags we have on each of our doors, and stuck them on the lounge. Because they don't live here, but they visit here very frequently. They can draw kites. I'm impressed. (I think the whole kite-theme is from having to read THE KITE RUNNER...the other halls didn't have these type of nametags.)
And I have another class at 10, so I'll get ready for that, shall I?
I went inside our sci lab building for the first time today and it's NICE. As in, the floors are shiny and it looks rather modern for a science building. There's also a sort of lounge place on the first floor with a cafe (in SCIENCE LAB BUILDING!! Makes you wonder about the food...) and of course it's lovely and warm in there which makes it all the nicer, as far as I'm concerned.
Someone took the "Academics" posting board on our floor and wrote mock-assignments on it that looks like it's from calc mostly because it's followed by some of the really long integration formulas (for those of you who know what I'm talking about, these were the formulas that Mr. Ferrante told us we DIDN'T have to memorize that we worked by referencing them constantly from the back of the book, yes, THOSE ones, with u and A and B and C). I wonder what that's about. Also, two guys made name tags for themselves, mimicking the style of the nametags we have on each of our doors, and stuck them on the lounge. Because they don't live here, but they visit here very frequently. They can draw kites. I'm impressed. (I think the whole kite-theme is from having to read THE KITE RUNNER...the other halls didn't have these type of nametags.)
And I have another class at 10, so I'll get ready for that, shall I?
20060103
Non Sequitor: New Year pictures
What happened on New Year's, in all honesty. The really dark one was taken without flash to indicate why candles and flashlight are necessary.
Recap: Working
Have gone and gotten my work schedule today and will be working 7-11am on Tuesday (note to self--when attempting to cluster classes they don't necessarily precipitate where you want them to) and from 12-3pm on Friday. Also received blueberry muffin and one lady's promise to look into the American Sign Language class of the community college extension place on campus, so that should be interesting.
Have also switched from watering plants every 5 days (and still see them getting moldy) to once every day after observing that the soil is very dry and the plants are starting to wilt. Odd, this temperature thing. Odd, needing to take off jackets and things when coming indoors.
[edit 12:12]
The possibility of getting vacinated x3 times is horrifying. Erk.
I've been looking through some old quotes I've gathered from the other years while going through my books. There's a quote where Victoria was instructing me to breed beef-eating pitcher plants so she can use it to catch cattle and there's one from Anna (from 11th grade) where she moaned that we didn't have any classes together that year and it's breaking the class-together-after-lunch tradition and, I quote, "You had beter be in a class with me next year after lunch or ELSE."
Look Anna, we had a class after lunch together 12th grade. Hem.
Have also switched from watering plants every 5 days (and still see them getting moldy) to once every day after observing that the soil is very dry and the plants are starting to wilt. Odd, this temperature thing. Odd, needing to take off jackets and things when coming indoors.
[edit 12:12]
The possibility of getting vacinated x3 times is horrifying. Erk.
I've been looking through some old quotes I've gathered from the other years while going through my books. There's a quote where Victoria was instructing me to breed beef-eating pitcher plants so she can use it to catch cattle and there's one from Anna (from 11th grade) where she moaned that we didn't have any classes together that year and it's breaking the class-together-after-lunch tradition and, I quote, "You had beter be in a class with me next year after lunch or ELSE."
Look Anna, we had a class after lunch together 12th grade. Hem.
20060102
Recap: A million plastic bags
Mother was continuously bothered by the fact that she can no longer keep track of what I have at where ever since she let me do my own packing. This time then, unpacking a suitcase that she has packed reminded me of one of her most puzzling...tendencies. She likes to wrap EVERYTHING individually in its plastic bag.
I can understand sanitary needs, but up to a point. I can sympathize, but now I just have a lot of plastic bags sitting on my desk.
Molly has raised her bed so now it's more of a loft bed which is taller than I am, and her desk got moved to underneath it so the room looks much bigger.
Did you know we have a city hereabouts named Vacaville? Vaca, as in cows. Bless the founding fathers for their bovine loving hearts.
[edit 14:36]
Courtesy of the calendar, from Lucy...I'm going to start adding in places to the travel-around-the-world blog.
I can understand sanitary needs, but up to a point. I can sympathize, but now I just have a lot of plastic bags sitting on my desk.
Molly has raised her bed so now it's more of a loft bed which is taller than I am, and her desk got moved to underneath it so the room looks much bigger.
Did you know we have a city hereabouts named Vacaville? Vaca, as in cows. Bless the founding fathers for their bovine loving hearts.
[edit 14:36]
Courtesy of the calendar, from Lucy...I'm going to start adding in places to the travel-around-the-world blog.
20060101
Recap: First adventure of the year
"I tried to make the dough on New Year's morning, and the dough attacked my mother," I told my parents with the calmness of a news reporter. "Happy New Year."
"Stop being so morbid," my mother tells me, and in the light of the candle, it did indeed look like the dough is attacking her. It clung to her hand and bottom of the pot in hopeless, stubborn clumps. After another half an hour of wrestling she managed to subdue it (the dough yielding with a final, resigned plop back into the pot) and so we're going to have dumpling for dinner, despite of everything. Everything including the candle.
There is a candle there because we had a power-failure this morning, and the kitchen area got very, very dark. I needed light in the kitchen because I got up early this morning to make dumplings, not the kind that you'd normally think of, but the completely rounded kind made with rice flour and semi-liquid, sweet filling. My parents generally consider the crumbly dough and the running filling far too much trouble when you can just buy ready-made ones in the store. I spent an hour making it this morning in lieu of the holiday spirit, and halfway through the electricity disappeared.
An electric stove will not work without electricity, and you can't boil water without a stove and you can't cook dumplings without boiling water, so while my mother went outside to see just how much of our area's powerless (ha--a symbolic killer on New Year morning, is it not?) I wandered around nibbling a bar of chocolate until my father found this portable electric stove from who-knows-where that had emergency natural-gas burning properties and natural-gas canisters to go along with it. It was still dark, we cooked the dumpling on the small stove, occasionalling shining a flash light into the pot to see if it's done. I sang "Happy New Year" and my mother joined in changed the part from "there are singing and dancing..etc." to "there's wind and power-failure"...
After the food's eaten mother decided that dumplings are a good idea and we should have them (the normal kind you'd think of when thinking of Chinese food) for dinner, and set out to make dough. I suggested that I try to make some too because I've done every part of normal dumpling making except the dough making and mother let me and the dough turned out too soft so we had to add more flour to it (or at least, mother decided to dump a whole bunch in and then wrestle with it).
The power came back on approximately 15 minutes ago. This is funny, and ridiculously so. I've never made food under the light of a candle before, so this is another first.
Happy new years. Because yes, I'm happy, in spite of it all. Best of luck to everyone in the new year, a chunk of time which is still new, shiny (I know how my friends like shiny things) and full of possibilities. Cheers.
"Stop being so morbid," my mother tells me, and in the light of the candle, it did indeed look like the dough is attacking her. It clung to her hand and bottom of the pot in hopeless, stubborn clumps. After another half an hour of wrestling she managed to subdue it (the dough yielding with a final, resigned plop back into the pot) and so we're going to have dumpling for dinner, despite of everything. Everything including the candle.
There is a candle there because we had a power-failure this morning, and the kitchen area got very, very dark. I needed light in the kitchen because I got up early this morning to make dumplings, not the kind that you'd normally think of, but the completely rounded kind made with rice flour and semi-liquid, sweet filling. My parents generally consider the crumbly dough and the running filling far too much trouble when you can just buy ready-made ones in the store. I spent an hour making it this morning in lieu of the holiday spirit, and halfway through the electricity disappeared.
An electric stove will not work without electricity, and you can't boil water without a stove and you can't cook dumplings without boiling water, so while my mother went outside to see just how much of our area's powerless (ha--a symbolic killer on New Year morning, is it not?) I wandered around nibbling a bar of chocolate until my father found this portable electric stove from who-knows-where that had emergency natural-gas burning properties and natural-gas canisters to go along with it. It was still dark, we cooked the dumpling on the small stove, occasionalling shining a flash light into the pot to see if it's done. I sang "Happy New Year" and my mother joined in changed the part from "there are singing and dancing..etc." to "there's wind and power-failure"...
After the food's eaten mother decided that dumplings are a good idea and we should have them (the normal kind you'd think of when thinking of Chinese food) for dinner, and set out to make dough. I suggested that I try to make some too because I've done every part of normal dumpling making except the dough making and mother let me and the dough turned out too soft so we had to add more flour to it (or at least, mother decided to dump a whole bunch in and then wrestle with it).
The power came back on approximately 15 minutes ago. This is funny, and ridiculously so. I've never made food under the light of a candle before, so this is another first.
Happy new years. Because yes, I'm happy, in spite of it all. Best of luck to everyone in the new year, a chunk of time which is still new, shiny (I know how my friends like shiny things) and full of possibilities. Cheers.
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