trippy

Oh, you knew it was coming

I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to major in chemical engineering anymore. But don't tell the chemical engineering department here. I'm going to stay registered as a chemical engineering major here until I leave next semester. And yes, I am also transferring much closer next semester, though I'm not quite sure where to yet. I'm pretty positive I'm going to major in math, too. I think taking three math courses this semester convinced me that I had a pretty good want for it. That and I actually have fun and enjoy doing math.

Here are some pictures from the day school was cancelled because of ice:

This is an area they call "The Horseshoe" on campus. It's pretty.


And this is just one of the many branches that fell from the trees because of the ice on them. I could hear loud cracking sounds all day long followed by seeing huge tree limbs falling to the ground.

Happy Australia Day!

It froze here yesterday (Sunday...it's technically Monday right now), so the University has a two-hour delay on classes. My first class isn't until 3 hours after school normally starts, so it doesn't affect me. I didn't really want school to be cancelled, though, so while I'm sad that it "was", I'm happy that it doesn't affect me at all.

<update>
School was actually all cancelled today. My roommate told me right after I got off the phone with Nathalie, so I just went back to sleep. As much as I don't like it, It's still really pretty outside. I'm going out now to take some pictures, so maybe I'll try to post some later.
</update>

I have to explicate the following poem by John Keats by Thursday. We were given a choice of a few poems, and I picked this because it's called "Ode to Melancholy" ("[...]." ?). It can't be a bad poem with a title like that, right? I haven't really read it yet, but it should be fun. Plus, three pages double-spaced can't be that hard.

"Ode to Melancholy" by John Keats

1.

NO, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolfs-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss’d
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow’s mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.

2.

But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

3.

She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.

I still hate weekends

I'm sick. At least, I have a cold. My nose is running, and I've been sneezing all day. I bought some Advil cold & sinus today (the non-drowsy kind), so that should help make me better relatively soon. When I went to buy that medicine, I also went to get a haircut, because it's getting long enough to annoy me. It was closing, though, so I have to go back on Monday. I guess I can last a few more days with long hair.

Here's a poll for you all. What time do you normally get to sleep at night? I want to know about what time is normal. Because I've taken to going to bed around 3:00 a.m. on weekdays and 4:00 or later on weekends (hence I'm not tired enough to sleep right now...I've only been up for 12 hours). Then I take naps whenever I have some extra time during the day. Naps not only wake me up when (if) I'm dead tired, but they are also a great way to pass the time. When I'm napping and sleeping, it's like I don't have to be here anymore. But anyway...what time do you usually sleep?

I also greatly suggest Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to all of you. Such a brilliant game. So fun... I just beat it a few days ago, and I was looking through the booklet that came with it and realized that there are even cooler moves I can do when fighting. Now I get to replay the game all over! The puzzles may not be as exciting the second time around, but it was still really fun to get stuck the first time and try everything I could think of to try to get myself farther along.

I leave you with this from slashdot. I really want Legos right now.

Link's Awakening

I've added a few links over to the right (AJ and Drew). I've also (very reluctantly) taken Nick's site off the links and changed the link to Bryan's site to his new one. Also, Graham, is your site still up (please say yes)? The list is now alphabetized for easy reference, too.

This time last night I was still on the phone...

As some of you know and some of you don't, a good friend of mine here at college was recently coming back from dinner with my roommate around 11:30 pm. Right in front of one of the dorms in a pretty well lit area, a man came out of the bushes screaming random cuss words, punched him in the jaw, and left without taking anything (money, ID, etc.) from him. My roommate took him into the dorm and called the cops, and he was soon brought to the hopsital. A few days ago, he went through surgery to fix his jaw (as it was broken in two places) and will have to have a wire in his jaw (not exactly sure how that works and all) for the next six weeks. I'm not sure if he'll be coming back to school this semester, but I wanted to tell everyone this as a precaution. If you're walking around your respective campuses (campi?) at night, even if you're with other people, pay close attention to your surroundings.

My first week of classes is over, and it went pretty bad, of course (you can't be too happy about some stuff when you're not happy about it), but I don't even want to get into that. All I want to say about my classes is that my professors in a few classes tell me that the workload will be very large, but it doesn't seem too overwhelming so far.

I've also just been informed that yours and my favorite coffee place may be going out of business. That's right: the coffee haus in Lincoln Square...they're having an all-night thing there tonight (as in right now), so try to make it over there if you get this in the next couple of hours. Otherwise, for those of you still living in Arlington, go there at least three times a day and get something to eat or drink (may I suggest a kojo hot chocolate?). And try to find out the recipe for that hot chocolate while you're there. I'll pay someone some good money if they can get it for me (seriously).

Lastly, AJ has introduced me to a hilarious online comic entitled White Ninja Comics. Click in awe. And go through the archives, too, if you dare to see the crazy randomness.

First Day of Classes -- Again

Classes started today, so I get to have another distraction. I only had two today, though. Tomorrow I have four classes, so it should be much more exciting. My first class tomorrow is 8:00 a.m., though. And I have three classes in a row so I don't get out until 12:30. I'm planning on eating breakfast before the first class starts so I'm not horribly hungry before my classes end. So I'm going to wake up at 6:30. I figure that will give me enough time to fully wake up and get ready and eat before class without being rushed. Maybe it's too much time, though... [upon re-reading this section, I noticed the extensive use of the word "class"]

This morning when I got into the shower, it was freezing cold. I don't mind cold showers, but this was unbearable. I think I felt ice in the water even on the hottest setting where the water is normally boiling as it comes out of the showerhead. I'm going to start taking my showers at night to see if that changes anything. If it doesn't, I may just stop showering altogether. I can buy a whole bunch of that Bath & Body Works antibacterial wash that doesn't need any water and just rub it on my body in the mornings.

The first class of the day was a math class called Vector Analysis, which was pretty fun. But I think that the class is the University's attempt to make Vector Calculus a two-semester course. It seems like we're going to cover the stuff in there that we just never got around to in vector calc. The first day was even spent reviewing the curvature we learned in vector calc on which we're probably (hopefully) going to expand.

After a 17-minute walk from my first classroom to my next one (which I only had 15 minutes to make it in), I had the "first course in chemical engineering." This is the course that's supposed to introduce all the concepts of the field and what it means to be a chemical engineer. I already really don't think I'm going to like it. I can't sit around and do mass and energy balances all day, which the professor (who seems like he'll be fun) said will be the only thing we basically do in the class. He said that the "only" thing a chemical engineer needs to know is "input equals output." That, to me, does not sound like a very fun job. But I'll try out the class for a little bit to see if I like it or not. Either way, I'm seriously rethinking my major right now.

I took some pictures of my dorm, but upon close inspection, I realized that it's a really dirty room. My roommate has all kinds of stuff lying around (computer boxes, clothes, books). So here's the part of the room that I actually like (as if pictures ever work on my site). There's my bed (the one by the window with the stuffed animal dog aptly named Snout) and desk and computer.

Not Good

I was just unpacking all of my clothes and noticed that I had left a few things at home. Upon this realization, I began to cry. I couldn't help myself nor stop. It wasn't, of course, that I had left some clothes at home, but rather the thought of home itself that sparked this. I'd been trying to keep busy all day so I wouldn't have time to think about anything (not that it worked), but this thought of home just hit me and I couldn't stop. I called my mom to just talk to her, but it didn't help. I even heard Brooklyn crying in the background, so it just made things worse. I've been sitting here for the last few minutes contemplating things to do. The best thing I can come up with is leaving my dorm right now and driving back to Arlington tonight. I can take the semester off if I need to. I just can't take 4 more months of this.

Last

I'm going back to South Carolina tomorrow. I'm leaving around 7:00 in the morning, so I should be in that piss-poor, redneck state (no offense...Texas is almost as bad) by 10:00 at night. Anyone is welcome to call me anytime I'm driving, but I know that none of you will (with the exception of a very few). Feel free to prove me incorrect. 929-8945. Bye.

Wish me luck so I don't die on the drive. It's long, but I've received a stuffed animal from Nathalie to keep me company.

Arg.