trippy

IX Dies!

Today was my last day of classes, and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm so close to getting to come home! Just a few finals stand in between me and the rest of my life! I also have one last homework assignment due for chemical engineering tomorrow (Thursday) at 5:00 p.m., and I've done about half of it. I've spent the last at least 4 hours doing this homework! Each problem is so time-consuming and boring! I'm glad I realized that I don't like that major before I got too into it.

As far as grades go, I'm guaranteed an A in linear algebra, and I'm expecting an A in everything else except organic chem (probably a B), so I'm really happy about that, too. I'm not sure how much I'm going to end up studying for each of my finals, but I'm sure that the next few days (until my first final on Tuesday) will be relatively long and boring becuase of a lack of class time to keep me occupied. That's how the weekends are, anyway.

Random thought: the other day, one of my math teachers described himself as a closed set traveling through space parameterized by time...

Also, the past few nights I've gone to sleep at 5:00, 4:00, and 4:00...and it looks like tonight will end a little earlier (3:00). But I get lots of naps. And talking to Nathalie on the phone makes me happy.

Life or Death

This is a very, very important question for all of you, and I will keep the results on the sidebar over there *points*.

Pick Only One: Sine or Cosine.

Also: e or p

Blah Blah Woof Woof

Tonight has been a pretty relaxing night. Weekend looks to be pretty nice and relaxing, too. That's really good because finals start not this upcoming week, but the week after, so it'll be nice to just relax. I do have a big project due this Wednesday, though, in my chemical engineering class. I have to write a flowsheet for the kidney dialysis process (with a small group of two other people), and then write a mass balance problem for the system (e.g. "What is the maximum flow rate of blood that can make the system remove wastes at full capacity?"). It should be fine. I'm relatively sure that I have the highest grade in there, so even if it is a horrible project, it won't hurt my grade too much. Finals won't be too bad either. I'm worried the most about organic chemistry, but I'm very borderline A. If I get an A in there, I don't have to take the final, too, so I really hope I am making an A.

I just noticed yesterday that I have TechTV in my dorm room. I like what I've seen so far on it. It really keeps my attention. I don't have SpikeTV, though, which really kind of sucks. That MXC show is very funny.

I feel like coffee haus hot chocolate. It's really good...

It sure does pay to update

As I was going to update my blog for the day, I noticed a little box on blogger where I normally click to get into my site:

SPECIAL NOTICE
As an active Blogger user,
we would like to invite you to
be one of the first to try out
Google's new email service,
Gmail.

Would you like to give it a
whirl? YES / NO

YYYYEEEESSSS!!!!!! Of course! Thank you email gods! My parents just got DSL at home, too (no more dialup!), so they were about to cancel MSN. Now I have the best email ever! My new address is [my screenname, of course]@gmail.com, if anybody cares. Update: Email address obfuscated at the advice of AJ.

I took my three tests today, and I have one more tomorrow, though it should be really simple. I think I even have a chance at getting a 100 on my organic chemistry and differential equations tests today. My linear algebra one was a take-home test, and it isn't due until noon tomorrow, so about 12 hours. I've finished it already, though. So now I won't have to worry about that in the morning.

I go home in just 18 days, and I won't have to come back here depressed ever again! No more teary goodbyes or weekends that go by way too fast. Now I can actually spend a month at home (home is where the heart is, you know) without worrying in the back of my mind that I'll have to leave for that same amount of time or more way too soon.

Also, I'm about to eat a giant rice krispie treat. So many things to be happy about!

Oh, and caves, too!

I like these colours better

The Stars are playing right now in what could possibly be their last game of the season. They need to win all their next three games or else they're out of the playoffs! I hope they do well...

I have three tests (yes, three) on Tuesday. Organic chemistry, differential equations, and linear algebra...I'm not too worried about differential equations, because all my grades in there have been really good, and I have a drop test grade in there, so I can use this test as that one. In organic chem and linear algebra, though, I'm expecting a B...mostly just in organic, though.

<update> NOOOO!!!!!! THEY LOST!!!!!! </update>

There no way this can go bad!

I noticed the following on a few other sites, and I think I want to do it, too.

I want everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want. Then I want you to go to your journal [blog, xanga, etc.], [and] copy and paste this allowing your friends (including myself [I'm your friend...right?]) to ask you anything.

Boredom

I felt like I wanted to change the colour scheme of the site. I don't know... I like it, but I'm not sure if I like the other one more. I don't know why I felt like redish and purplish colours, either, but they seemed to have turned out pretty nice.

AHH!! A GNAT JUST FLEW INTO MY EYE! Ok, I think it's out now...

squash + rats -> carriage

I just got back from the Cinderella Ball (a charity ball with 20 high school girls making money for the Boys & Girls Club of Arlington) with Nathalie, and I feel the need to post because it was just so much fun! In fact, I'm posting this from her house. I can't even wait to get home to post...though I will probably install the DSL tomorrow. We ate a realatively nice dinner there, and then we danced for about two hours, which was incredibly more fun than I ever thought it could have been a year ago (dancing I used to hate; I now love it).

Ah, but for now I must go. More later, I'm sure

*1960s Batman music*

Going home today...I'll probably update at some point

Hehe...This post made me happy

I feel like I should post so that I can keep myself busy, so I will. This is more for me, so you guys don't have to read it if you don't want to (not that you ever have to, of course).

Random things to make me smile:

• Nathalie


• love


• home for summer (and beyond) in just one more month


• home "for Easter" in just a few more days


• family


• AIM/friends


• Brooklyn


• shot glass in my room (thanks Steph!)


• new cell phone


• Stars in the playoffs


• lots of math classes


• dancing (with Nathalie)


• #90 on a google search for "simply fondue"


• cookie cake


• Alias


• South Park


• Star Wars


• webcomics


• Snout


• little black pocket reference book


• limits of Euler's equation


• hating iTunes yet still collecting the Pepsi caps


• Adventure Quest


• UTA


• my calculator


• most all soda


• google/gmail/god


• Anaka (my kitty)


• Ion (future kitty)


• staying up late to talk on the phone


• artichokes


• Hi-C


• my blog


• other people's blogs


• people who read my blog


• driving


• The Beatles


• Six Flags


• 3 Musketeers bar


• Pokemon


• "Toxic" (I'll admit, I like the song. The video annoys me though)


• pictures


• the day after a test


• end of March Madness (thank google!)


• Maus, Maus II


• Fraggle Rock


• last summer


• this summer


• moving out


• always being believed in


• naps


• C++


• getting to wait to come home, knowing that it will happen very soon


• DSL in my house (finally!)


• swimming


• singing


• colon, closing parentheses :)


• waking up to a phone call


• my hair


• hanging out with people next semester


• future road trips


• knowing what makes me happy


• realizing this list


• sundaes


• coffee haus kojo hot chocolate and a big chair for two


• Einstein Bros. clam chowder


• having someone who loves me even when I'm sad and 1000 miles away

This worked actually very well. I feel much much happier than I did when I started this post! And now I'm smiling, too!

Damn...Anger is one of the seven deadly sins

I don't like people telling me what I like to do. I do what makes me happy. And, yes, I do know what makes me happy. I don't do things that I'm going to be pissed off or emotionally wounded doing. And if I happen to do something like that, then I try to fix it so that I'm not horribly depressed (e.g. South Carolina). If sitting in my room and talking to people online or on the phone makes me happier than going out and driving to the beach, looking at museums, or even just talking to other people sometimes, then why can't I do it? I'm not unhealthy or about to die; I'm not losing touch with "the real world"; I'm not pining over anything all day long. Honestly, I just hate it here! Going out will not make me happier!

Hello. My name is Tripp, and I have a problem.

First of all, this reminded me of Arlington. Oh, how I miss passing by different churches and reading my weekly "good thoughts" from church signs. "Life without God is like a dull pencil: pointless!" has always stuck in my mind for some reason.

Now onto my problem: I'm obsessed with webcomics. As my list of daily (hourly?) blogs grows larger, so does my list of daily webcomics at which to laugh. I currently read Mac Hall, Sinfest, VG Cats, Penny Arcade (who doesn't?), Nuklear Power, White Ninja Comics, Toothpaste for Dinner, Errant Story, and Queen of Wands as each is updated. I suggest taking up the crazy habit, too. However, if you decide to read a webcomic, you have to go through the archives and read every older comic before you can start on the newer ones or else you won't get the past references to plotlines they make. If you decide to take up Nuklear Power, be warned: it's updated about three times a week with a new full-page comic, and it's been going on for a long time. That one took me forever to read the entire thing...and I'm always at my computer. It's very funny, though. I highly suggest it.

And in case you care (yeah I know you don't, but I do), it's now been eight months for Nathalie and me.

One Week Later

Wow...it's been a week since I last posted...

Anyway. For those who don't know (and I think that's a lot of you) I went home this last weekend. Before you start freaking out and asking "Again?!" you have to keep in mind that I found a really good plane ticket back for the weekend...$139. Every now and then AA will have cool weekend fares like that. Going home for the weekend is definitely worth $139, agreed?

Friday: My flight was Saturday morning..I noticed that I (in my great stupidity) had accidently booked the flight backwards, i.e. from DFW to South Carolina for the weekend. Ooops. So I called the AA people to try to fix it. They told me that it would be a $100....fuck. They then transferred me to other people (i.e. another person) who told me that they'd go ahead and fix my flight for me for free this one time to encourage me to book with them again. Good deal! I had my ticket all fixed up to have me leaving at 5:50 a.m. from an airport about an hour and a half away. So I got about two hours of sleep or less that night.

Saturday: The plane had technical difficulties, so we eventually got on another plane that was at the runway, too, and took off about half an hour late, which doesn't seem like much but actually matters when all I have is two days there. The plane yielded about another hour and a half of sleep. When I got to the airport and saw Nathalie and the mono I gave her (I couldn't resist...they're so cute!), my happiness began for the remainder of the weekend. We then made the long drive back to my house where I saw Brooklyn walking with my mom in the front yard, and she looked so much older, just like every other time I see her! She came down the hill when I got out of the car, so I got to hold her for a little bit and chase her around the lawn and see her new small car thing and pink bouncing horse. I got to see my sisters and mom for a little bit, then I know that soon thereafter Nathalie and I went to get something for lunch, but I can't for the life of me remember where. Wait, I know! We were going to go out to lunch, but then my dad called and told me to meet him soon at the Cingular store. So we went to the pet store in Lincoln Square until we had to go over to the cell phone place. There, I saw my dad and he switched out my cell phone for some newer technology and my plan for some other plan that has 5000 mobile-to-mobile minutes, which made me happy, too. Then we got chick-fil-a as I "personalized" my new phone and brought it back to her house where we ate. We then decided to go swimming at her brother's apartment complex (my pool was really dirty). So we went back to my house to get my swimsuit then ate a sundae at Braum's before driving over to her brother's place. The water and air there was really cold, so we ran right for the hot tub which had a few other people in it. Lukewarm at best. Oh well. We made the best of it and swam around a little in the small hot tub while every now and then conversing with the other people about big scary animals as pets. When we got out of the water, I felt like I would die of hypothermia. The air was freezing cold! Despite that, though, (and possibly even enhanced by that...random "bad" things like that are lots of fun when you're having fun) it was still great excitement.

Saturday Night: Nathalie drove us back to her house where we decided to try to make something for dinner, remembering how much fun it was when I made manicotti (I wonder if I ever posted about that)...and it was damn good, too. Homemade pasta sounds good! Ravioli...cheese ravioli! We went back to my house so I could change after swimming. Then we went to talk to Olivia up at her work for a second before going to rent a movie (Matchstick Men) and get the groceries needed from the online recipe for cheese ravioli from scratch. When we got back to her house, we started making the food until Olivia came over to help, too. After a few hours of lots more fun (and a few good ideas by Olivia with regard to making the ravioli, including smashing the edges with a fork) we ate around 1:00 a.m. It was really, really good. Really good. We then watched Matchstick Men, which I've wanted to see for a while. However, Nathalie and I were both dead tired from getting around two hours of sleep each the night before, so we slept on the couch until I had to go home and sleep for six hours before calling her again in the morning.

Sunday: Upon waking up, I went downstairs and talked to my dad for a little bit and then brought Brooklyn back to her house when my mom came home from the grocery store with her. There, I saw Tabitha and talked to her for a little while as Brooklyn played with a magnetic letter board she got for her birthday. When I got home, Nathalie came over, and I got the crazy idea to go to Six Flags. I mentioned it to my mom, and she said they had a Family Four-Pack thing at Six Flags for season passes. Four for just $60 each! So Nathalie and I went and bought four season passes and parking (buy one get one free on parking) and used our two to get into the park that day and ride a bunch of rides. I had forgotten how much fun six flags can be, and I am ub3r ecstatic that I now have a season pass and season parking. This summer we can go to Six Flags any time we want and it'll be free from this point on. No more money, and the still lots and lots of fun in the summer waiting! And I think my parents are going to use the other two season passes, too, so I can have fun with them or Brooklyn too! We left and went back to my house after having a great time in the rainy park.

Sunday Night: We sat around my house for a little talking to whomever in my family happened to be in my house at the time (people always coming and going). Then we ate dinner (hamburgers on the grill) while watching Alias. After the show, we went over to Nathalie's house while my family slept so she could do some homework due on Monday. After being there for a short time, I left to go see Joe and Tabitha at their house so that I could talk to my brother at least before I left the next day. I also drove around with AJ for a little while driving in a big circle passing through the UTA campus trying to find somewhere to get some food late at night. Nothing being open, we drove right back to where we started and got some Taco Bell (I got a drink...wasn't hungry at all). I was to later find out that there was some plastic in his second burrito, which he ate later (first was eaten in the car). I then drove back to Nathalie's and watched Dharma and Greg with her brothers and her and slept on the couch as she sat next to me finishing up her lab. We then watched a little more TV and slept a bit more before I finally had to get home to sleep for leaving early the next day.

Monday: I woke up early and reluctantly went to the airport for a 9:12 a.m. flight. I bought Reese's Pieces (like I always do for return flights) at the airport and slept another two hours on the plane. And I've been back in South Carolina since.

I'd write about this week, but this post is already far too long, and I doubt anyone's read the whole thing. I got an 80 on my linear algebra test...missed 12 points because I multiplied 1/2 by -1/9 and got 0. I know that's a really stupid, crazy mistake, but is it really worth 12 points?! ...oh well. More later...I'll try to update more regularly.