Life This Week

So much time and so little to do. Wait. Strike that. Reverse it.

Recent Thoughts and Things

Chemistry

"...they decided to shake the poop out of the milk." ~ prof. It grossed me out a little.

"Woods are pretty bad places for humans not just because of the vicious raccoons but there are dangerous chemicals in the air." I'm sorry but are you kidding me??!! I always thought the woods were good for you but if the air is worse in the woods than in the city then my whole life has been a lie.

I truly wonder how many times my chem. prof. has almost died. He's told so many stories...it's unbelievable he's made it this far.

For biology lab I had to collect a sample of dirt and bring it to the lab. Well I forgot and had to get it on the way to lab. I happened to have a plastic bag in my backpack. So I put the dirt in the bag and put the bag in my pocket. For some reason while I was sitting in chemistry with the bag of dirt in my pocket I found the situation hilarious. That was a bad story. I'm sorry.

This week we had a guest lecturer in chemistry. We were each given a sheet and asked to evaluate her presentation. Let me just say that debate has destroyed my ability to evaluate presentation givers. I've become way too critical. Everyone around me was giving her 5s (high rating), but I was giving her tons of feedback and rating her a bit lower than everyone else. Now that I think about it however, that might not be from attending all those debate meets but could just be my critical personality...

Math

"Don't worry. These are going to get trickier." ~instructor Andrew about trig problems. I was so worried.

"We're multiplying 3 things to get zero! Either 2 is zero...unlikely..." ~Andrew

Have you ever wanted to turn to someone and say "Dude, you're obnoxious"? I have.

I like the word "compose."

Biology

The word "parasite" gives me the shivers.

The word "fungus" is weird.

How did people figure out which mushrooms were okay to eat? Just trial and error? I hope not.

Did you know there is a thing called "mushroom prospecting"? It's true.

Me: "It's like, a peanut."
Friend: "That was deep."

Other

"Yay for fat girls!" ~ Davielle Taken out of context that sounds way worse than it actually was.

Recent Decisions

I've decided that because I should write a song of the day. After I start my rock 'n' roll career.

I've decided that I have really good problem solving skills and that's why I do so well in math. So, I'm going to start applying those skills to chemistry and thinking about the whole class the same way I do math class. If I change the way I view the class maybe it'll change how ell I do in the class. Perhaps this way I'll do better.

This isn't really a decision, but more of a person observation. I tend to forget the 'e' at the end of "change" and I tend to add and 'e' to the end of "both." Isn't that weird?

First Set of Winter Quotations

My math teacher has been great so far for good quotes.

"This is the meat of the set notation sandwich, you just need to put the buns on there right?"

"What's another way to say born? Birds aren't born..."

"Does the wingspan go on forever? I hope not, that would be like a scary Alfred Hitchcock movie."

"IT'S LIKE MAGIC! Math magic..."

"Wait a second...that can't be right...I must have plugged something into my calculator wrong...ohhhhh that's embarrassing..."

"Oh boy! Look at all of these solutions!"

"This is kind of a guess-what's-in-my-head kind of question."

This guy get so enthusiastic about what he's teaching us. One time it was so bad I said (to myself and the people near me) "My. God. This is blowing my mind." I got a couple chuckles.

My chemistry professor isn't nearly as funny as last term, but he has some really good stories that he likes to share. I managed to get a couple of quotes.
Prof.:"There are three phases (i.e. liquid, sold, gas)...well actually four but we won't talk about that."
Me:"WHAT?! Everything I ever learned about science is wrong!"

"Gotta be careful about putting yourself in a a vacuum."

He also tends to say "all-gebra" instead of algebra, and molecliar instead of molecular. It bugs me.

There have been quite a few good quotes in my biology class but I'm always too shocked to write them down. They're not from the professor, they're from this obnoxious kid that like to ask the most bazaar questions. Not only are the questions odd, but he takes forever to actually get to the question. That too bugs me. Here is the only question I managed to write down.

Kid: "Do you think reptiles will ever fly again?" (There was a picture of a turtle on the overhead. That's the only connection I could find.)
Prof.: "I doubt it."

I'll try to write them down from now on. They're crazy.

Back To Bellingham

I am now back at school and feeling a little blue. Big surprise right? I understand more and more how Christina feels about home vs away. I love being at home because I love being with my mom. However, I like coming back to school because that means I leave the craziness behind. I feel like I'm constantly battling with myself inside about where I want to be.

School isn't fun for me anymore (I guess that's what happens when you're a science major) so I've thought about just taking some time off. But when I think about how my life would be, and I apologize for the vagueness, I just couldn't handle being at home that much. It would be too hard (emotionally). I'm hoping that once I get through this year, my classes next year will be ones I like.

I need a sign or something to reassure me that I'm where I'm supposed to be. I think about the future way to much and it makes me sad, I should make a point to not do it so much. "The Future" seems so far away, like something I'll never actually achieve. It's like I'm jumping over hurdle after hurdle and as soon as I can see the finish line the race is made longer.

The Chemistry Gods

The Divine Forces are working against me today.

Reason 1: Earlier this week I found out that today's hockey game was cancelled. I was totally bummed because I've only been to one and we had a whole group of people planning on going too. Plus the game was supposed to be a way for me to break up my studying. Nope.

Reason 2: I was also supposed to play in a soccer game today at 4:00. However, I found out a few minutes ago that the game was rescheduled for 11:00. I have been talking about how excited I am for this game for two weeks! Therefore, all of my special plans for the day have been cancelled.

Reason 3: Josh Groban fell on me this morning. I have this giant poster of him on the wall next to my bed. I woke up this morning at exactly 10:00. I looked at the clock then rolled back over and decided to sleep for a few more minutes and try to finish the weird dream I had been having (I'll spare you the details). Then the poster un-sticky-tacked itself from the wall and fell on me. I think this was a sign for me to get up. Did I follow the sign? Nope. I stuck the poster back to the wall and fell back asleep.

Reason 4: I wanted to meet Kyndra for dinner around 6:15. However, the bus was 15 minutes late and therefore dinner ended while I was on the bus.

Reason 5: I wanted to go to the pool after dinner, but because the bus was late and the pool closes at 7:00...no pool.

Are the forces working for me or against me? I'm expecting my computer to crash at any momen-

Thoughts and Quotes

Quotes:
"NINE! NINE! Sorry, I lived in Germany for 3 years, so I interpret 'nine' in multiple ways." ~Chem Prof.

"So I think we've gone from the difficult to the absurd at this point." ~Chem Prof.

"We're still working on scales and arpeggios here. We're not ready to blow some bad jazz." ~Chem Prof.

"If Thomas loves it it's gotta be awful." ~Davielle

"Sweet is definitely not the right word." ~Davielle [about describing me and she's right. I was thinking bitter.]

Thoughts:
Why do painters wear white outfits?

I've decided that I'm hopelessly something. Just what exactly we might never know.

Today's Funnies

"I thought about copyrighting myself..." ~Anth. Prof.

"It's been a while since I've read the Book [The Bible]." ~Anth. Prof.

"In the future the grade you got in chemistry is not going to mean as much as the time you spend with the ones you love." ~Chem. Prof. A little weird, but it made me feel a bit better.

Failure is Imminent

I am a smart person. I know this. However, in chemistry no matter how hard I try I do poorly. I have never struggled this much with a class before. I don't like feeling unintelligent. I like to be in the middle or above the curve not below it. I feel like I'm trying to swim up a raging river and every time I get a breath I get pulled down even further. Once I think I've got things under control and grow a little bit of confidence the test backhands me and I fall to the floor. This is a new experience for me. I wasn't very good at HOTA or H2O, but I got by. I'm worried that I will actually fail this class. I must be missing something, but what? I need to pass this chem series in order to take ANY other science class. Pray for me, please.

One of those days

It's going to be one of those days.

First, I slept and hour later than I would have liked leaving me less time to study for my Philosophy test before class.

Then, as I was getting ready, I completely missed my eyelashes and put mascara directly into my eye. It stopped watering and I expect the redness to go away soon.

One of my previous writers who I kind of fired but not really because I simply haven't spoken to him in many weeks, is working at the dining center. I know this and usually just try to avoid him, but today he stood between me and breakfast.

O, and remember how there are two main doors into the newsroom, but one was closed due to asbestos? Well now the other door is closed for the same reason. First door has reopened though.

Maybe it will just be one of those mornings and not the whole day.

Today's Annoyances (thus far)

As I said before, I'm in a bad mood today. Truthfully, it's probably hormonal (sorry boys), but it could also be because I didn't sleep much last night. I kept waking up, looking at the clock, rolling over, dosing off, waking up, looking at the clock, rolling over, dosing off, etc. all night long. Anyway, this mood has heightened how easily I get annoyed. Let's look at a few things shall we?

Anthropology:
The girl behind me was tapping the back of my seat all through lecture. I don't mean randomly kicking my seat, she was tapping a four four rhythm. Did she not think I could feel it? Couldn't she hear her foot hitting my seat? I could and it was pissing me off.

Then while my teacher was in the middle of teaching (imagine that) my coffee mug slipped out of my hands and went crashing down to the floor. Naturally it made a huge ruckus as plastic normally does when it hits concrete, AND I had failed to securely fasten the lid therefore coffee went all over the floor and I did not meet my coffee quota for the day. Bummer.

Between Chemistry and Math:
I was hurrying along to get to my math class in time, when I kept getting shoved into the bushes and trees because the people coming at me could not grasp the concept of staying to the right. Five or six of them would take up the whole path. I wanted so badly to stop in my tracks and say "WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO WALK WHEN YOU DO THAT?!?"

10 Minutes Ago:
My plan for the day was to do my laundry and read for anthropology before meeting Kyndra for some soccer practice. When I got back to my room I gathered up my laundry and my book and walked over to the Service Center. Before heading down to the laundry room I was going to put $20 on my laundry card. As I turned to insert my card into the laundry card money putter on-er thingy I saw all these signs that said "OUT OF ORDER." Which is how it was last weekend too. Dang it. Good thing I'm going home this weekend.

Quotations to lighten up my mood

"Are you okay with that? You can say no! I'm okay with no. I have a 16 year old daughter. She says no all the time!" ~ Chemistry sub.

"It takes a while to eat a giraffe." ~Anth. Prof.

Anth. Prof: [to TA about English infixes]"I'm thinking of one. Are you?"
TA: "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"
Prof: "Oh...I was gonna say FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!"

Power to the People

I was channel flipping Friday night when I happened upon a channel where Laura Ingraham was being interviewed about her new book. I did not know who Laura Ingraham was, but her book title caught my eye, Power to the People.

The title was the same as my campaign slogan when I ran for ASB senior Senate. It made me think I should have trademarked the slogan. My use of the phrase at the time was much more creative.

I suppose the slogan has probably been used many a time before me, but it's entertaining when I notice others using it, because I shall always associate it with light bulbs and little pipe cleaner people. My posters were impressive.

This Week's Quotables And In Class Happenings

• "They have translated the Bible into Klingon." ~Anth. Prof. That's actually more of a fun fact, but hey.
• During Anthropology early this week I was paying close attention to what my professor was trying to communicate to us, when I felt some one's eyes on me. I looked to my left and saw the girl sitting a few seats down from me staring at me intently over her glasses. It was one of those Christina, painful, melting your flesh with their eyes stares. Startled, I quickly looked away. "That was scary," I though. I still can't figure out why she was trying to kill me with her eyes. I was honestly just sitting there.
• One of the boys behind us however, had his foot resting on the empty chair next to me and was bouncing it like mad. All the seats are connected in that lecture hall so as I was trying to jot down my notes they kept getting all squiggled up because of that darn foot bouncer! I wanted so badly to turn around and yell "STOP THAT!"
• "It's like when you go to the store and you can't just throw the box of pearls in there! So what else to you get?" "CHOCOLATE!" "OH CHOCOLATE! They should just tape that right to the box!" ~Anth. Prof. discussing taboo words in culture and our taboo with menstruation.
• "There are eight different kinds of Oreos! Have you ever had decision over load?! They have mint, and peanut butter, and inside out, and double stuffed, and double chocolate! JUST GIVE ME THE GOD DAMN REGULAR ONES!! What was wrong with those?!" ~Anth. Prof. She has a point.

Crazy Quotations

Here are more quotations from my professors. Enjoy.

• "Ear viruses" ~My Anth. Prof referring to bad songs that always get stuck in your head.
• "Remember in 4th grade history when they made you remember all those dates? I hate that. Why do they do that to children?" ~Anth. Prof
• "I know you're probably thinking of some south sea island & a lecherous male..." ~Anth Prof while discussing sexual relationships during field work.
• "Are there really that many Is in 'divisible'? I used to know how to spell then I became a chemist."~Chem Prof
• "It would be as if I would go running at this wall and go right through it. Which would be totally cool. I wouldn't be here. I'd be a very rich man." ~Chem Prof
• "My knowledge of this part of the periodic table is pretty limited because frankly...I don't care." ~Chem Prof
• "Guys, this is how a general chemistry course works. I wake up in the morning and think 'what lies am I going to tell my general chemistry class today?" "...I keep track of the lies and test you on them during the exams." ~Chem Prof

Resistance is Futile

Cyborg Anthropology. It does exist.

"440 CYBORG ANTHROPOLOGY (3)
Prereq: ANTH 201 or permission of instructor. The cyborg is a life form that is part human and part machine. This course examines the shifting conceptual and physical boundaries between humans and their tecno-scientific creations through theoretical works, ethnographic accounts, and popular cultural artifacts such as film."
-Western Course Catalogue

I'm almost tempted. Holy Borg.

Lost in transcription

Today's academic quote of the day comes from my chemistry professor. I have a feeling although the class is going to kick my butt, the teacher is going to be quite amusing. Hopefully the comedic quality of this quotation does not get lost in transcription.



"What's the one thing every student hates about chemistry?"

*Long pause*

"STORY PROBLEMS! THEY SUCK! Sooooooo, let's do some!"



Yes, I will admit that it's not quite so funny reading it. Hopefully the truth of it makes a couple of you laugh.

Week one done

Week one of school is done. Lots more to go. Here are some things I've noted this week.

Anthropology - 8:00 AM - 8:50 AM
~Anthropological is one of my new favorite words.
~My professor was forced to teach "extemporaneously" yesterday and thanks to debate I know what that means.
~"Don't trample each other, it's tacky." A quotation from my professor about evacuating.
~Lesson of today - be careful what you say in front of an anthropologist.

Chemistry - 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM
~Esoteric - another word I like the sound of.
~"I'm typically not such a tricky bastard on exams." One of the things I love about college is that teachers don't have to tip toe around the truth. This quotation is from prof. I believe it was in reference to Sig Figs.
~Contemplation--> Teachers must have incredibly strong shoulder muscles. All that erasing...
~Observation --> Chemistry professors/instructors seem to hate Sig Figs as much as students.

Math - 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM (Yes, you read that right. I have three classes in a row, MWRF. Tuesdays are my only exception when I don't have Chem. lecture and an added lab on Thursdays.)
~Extrapolate - an over used word in mathematics.

Other
~There is a guy I see frequently on campus "ducked" out in UO green and yellow. Every time I see him I happen to be wearing OSU orange. Why is that? I want to know his story.
~Apparently all the elevators in the Environmental Sciences Building get stuck from time to time. Yesterday on my way down this happened. I looked to the girls next to me, one looked equally concerned, the other looked at the two of us and said "oh don't worry all the elevators in this building get stuck." "You're kidding," I replied. "No, just give it a sec and it'll start again." Sure enough it did, but why isn't anyone worried about this?
~Spaghetti still remains the perfect meal after swimming.
~How many calories am I burning everyday between biking, hiking, walking,stressing, swimming, while schleping my backpack (excl. swimming)?
~To schlep is probably one of the coolest verbs in Webster's Dictionary.

College Stress Update

Officially as of right now I only have 10 credits (2 classes). I couldn't get into the math class I need so I'm just going to show up tomorrow and do anything (almost) to get in. I also have to attend the biology class I dropped, just in case I can't get into the math class.

I also think I'm going to change my major, again. It's actually more of an alteration. I think I'm going to do the Bio/Anth BA instead of the BS. The BA is only 89 credits and the BS is ~105. I could still go to medical school if I wanted and I wouldn't have to take a full year of math this year. Only one term is needed. SWEET.

Right now I'm in the process of weighing my pros and cons for the BA vs the BS. Thoughts anyone?

I can't wait to get off this roller coaster, but that's life isn't. I should write a song.

Apologies

I am going to apologize right now for any further blogging that has to do with me slipping into my shell mode, panicking about college, or missing home. I'm sorry. That's just what I do.