Classes start in two days. Wow. Where did the summer go?

So, I was supposed to hear back on Monday from the Space building guys. Didn't happen. I assumed they were taking a long time to work through everything. So I waited all day today. I waited for an email as I steadily convinced engineering freshman to at least look into studying Chinese. That was a blast. Get back to the apartment, still no email.

It is now about 9:30, and still I haven't heard a yes or a no. So I sent an email to the TA office, accepting their offer. You know, not as glamorous or well paying. but it's money, and face time with some of the better professors in my department, so it's not a total loss. Plus I automatically get time off for anything pertaining to my school work, like finals, so that's a perk. Oh well. A job is a job, just one more bullet point to my resume.

Tomorrow is training, and a little more studying where I can fit it. And then it's the deluge of classes. At least I don't start off the year with my 7:30am class. This year is going to go great. I can just feel it in my bones. I've made my mistakes, I've learned from them. Sometime in the near future I go to apply for my passport, and my visa, look into flights to China for the summer camp I'm looking into.

But yeah, nothing interesting over the weekend happened. I just went home, hung out, enjoyed the last free weekend I'll have for a long time. This week was pretty plain so far, aside from what I've mentioned so far. Hopefully, once classes get going, I'll have some interesting stories to come up with. Though I'm crossing my fingers that they won't be about my professors. I've had enough dealings with crazy, eccentric, unkempt, unorganized professors to last me the rest of my career. But I can feel, deep down all the way to my toes, that there will be at least one this semester.

Oh, and in closing I had to teach Sam how to make pasta tonight. He can make all kinds of other foods, but he didn't know how to make pasta. It just kind of boggled my mind. How can you go your whole life, making other food, and not know how to make something where literally all you have to do is boil water? I just watched in horror as he tried to pour the noodles before the water was boiling, and this was after I stopped him from using too small a pot to begin with. I just couldn't sit there for long, so I had to coach him through the process while I made my tea. This is going to be an interesting year to see what he comes up with.

Hooray, finally back from camp!

It was such a blast, I was definitely bummed I was only a counselor for one camp. I almost stayed for another, I offered to, but they had more than enough counselors at check-in, so I had to lumber onto the bus with everyone else. But these past few days were certainly full of adventure.

Sunday, went and saw Pacific Rim with Gabi and Tristan. Holy cow, afterwards I was just so pumped. We should have gone laser tagging, or started a bar fight or something. I need to go see at least ten more times. Then we went grocery shopping, yay, food. I bought some general groceries I'd need, plus a little splurge on strawberries (hey they were on sale), and they gathered the materials needed for me to make them lembas bread. You know, the thing from Lord of the Rings that the elves make, one small bite can fill the stomach of a grown man yadda yadda yadda? Tristan found a recipe, so we all gathered in my tiny little kitchen and made some.

It was really freaking good. I mean, obviously, since I made it, but hot damn I wanted to make a dozen more trays of the stuff. It was especially good with honey drizzled over it, and with strawberries. I knew they'd come in handy. But we chatted, pulled a Minnesota good-bye as they straggled in the doorway while we talked for another twenty minutes. Eventually, I was left all alone, and started to pack for my next adventure.

Monday morning dawned, and I still needed to pack stuff. I had figured I could go to bed early and pack in the morning since all I really needed was a towel and some pants. They give the counselors all kinds of clothing, it's great. So I hoisted up the sleeping bag, grabbed a lembas square from the kitchen, and I ran out to the bus stop.

I was a good half hour early, since I didn't know how long the bus takes to do it's tour. I thought I would have plenty of time to get to check-in. I'd be there to help and have time to change into the counselor shirt we were given and required to wear.

Nope.

The bus didn't show up for so longggg. I must have just missed the previous one or something. But that took a while. No problem, once I got on we were cruising right along. Then we get to the transportation hub. The smaller shuttles, the city buses, the light rail, all of them stop right here. It's crazy. But we loitered. I assumed we just had to wait a set amount of time for passengers. Everyone else had gotten off. No one had told me that the bus was in fact turning around, and I should have gotten off to join the bus that had been in front of us.

Well, great. But I still have time. So I ride it around, the bus driver said he stops at the cross street I need. I have to push a destination button so he knows who wants to stop there, which is pretty clever. So I press it and sit down, all alone on the bus and hoping I can make it. We're driving, and I can see the building, looming over all the small shops and boutiques that line the street. It's on our left, so I knew I'd have to cross the street. But he keeps driving. He goes around a corner. 'Must be a bus stop there,' I figure. But the building stays on our left, and then it slowly slides backwards away from us. He keeps driving.

I was so close.

Now I'm back almost all the way to my apartment after riding the bus loop. I get off and catch the next one going the right way, maybe this time it will go right. I get off at the transport hub to get on the proper bus, check. I tell the driver I want this station, and I press the button, check. I pull the cord to indicate I want to get off and the driver miraculously stops, check. Finally out on the streets again, I have to make my way to the building. I may have gotten off a little prematurely, but I'd rather walk an extra block than have to ride the bus around the loop again.

Check-in went great, the bus ride up was long but fantastic. 4 hours later, we're all piling off the bus and the coordinator catches me unloading the bags.

"Yellow 1, right?" I nod. "Yeah, I had to reassign you, you're now Yellow 3." She hands me a slip of paper with my camper's names. Ethan. Perry. Max. I see a pattern here that I wasn't expecting to see. I've been reassigned to a guy cabin, because 5 counselors didn't show up, and there is always more girl counselors than there are girl cabins. I inwardly groan, because who knew what they could be like. But I take the paper and go find my cabin assignment, standing with the three other counselors who will be lodging in that cabin.

We hike down to it, do our ice breaker introduction, they all seem pretty laid back, and then we're off to lunch. First activity after that was boat building. There had been a general consensus at lunch among my boys that they were all pretty lazy, and so they had agreed to not care what they won or lost. I shake my head, but lead them to the boats.

About ten minutes into building it, they suddenly become very invested as to whether or not their boat will in fact work. Then another ten minutes, and they're doing everything they can to make sure it works. This enthusiasm just continually built over the next few days, and by the time we got to the final activity on the last day, they were the most gung-ho team there.

We may not have won any points at Jeopardy (though the final Jeopardy question was the one piece of trivia I knew and had kept telling them. The second it was asked I think Ethan jumped four feet in the air and sprinted to turn in our answer), and our boat may have slightly sunk in the second round (we won our first round, yay!) but they were always ready to go. I was so proud of my cabin. I almost don't want another camp, with another cabin. I just want them to come back every year and hang out. I honestly think guy cabins are better than girl cabins. They just seemed way more into it than any of the girl cabins, especially the one I was roomed with. None of the girls talked when it was time for bed. My camp last year, we stayed up forever talking about stuff. These girls just seemed a little apathetic when it came to the camp.

But I gave all the guys my email, told them to contact me if they had questions or just didn't know what to do. I hope they keep in contact, because honestly, they were super. We have a good freshman class coming in, most of the campers were awesome. But alas, we finally had to get on the buses, had one final goodbye, and then the long journey home began. I think I fell asleep off and on, but suddenly we were right outside the building again. After making sure the campers all got picked up, I headed for the bus, which went a lot smoother this time. As in, I didn't have to ride three different buses to get home. Checked my email, I've been selected for an interview for the job.

I talked a little, and scheduled it for Thursday, because honestly as soon as I got home I was suddenly tired. I probably could have pulled off another camp, but I'd be dead by the end of it.

Thursday. Get up, get ready, bike over to the interview. Show up an hour early. Whoops. Oh well, I get to look at the exhibits and cool off before I have to go chat with the professor. He was really nice, and after a bit of chatting, he mentioned how they had received almost 80 applications for the position, but they had culled it down with resumes to about a dozen. I was in that dozen. I could have run cheering up and down the halls, but that would have been unprofessional, so I just nodded and smiled enthusiastically. My interview may have gotten a little off course when I mentioned space exploration and he started talking about his research and I mentioned a news article and whoops there went the time. Now it all just comes down to whether my schedule fits what they need. I should hear back from them by Monday.

It's going to be a long weekend.

And that brings me to today. Meredith is finally moved in, we had some experimenting in the kitchen (garlic powder and soy sauce tastes like mana from heaven) and then just some general busy work before school starts, her practicing some calc that she forgot, me making flashcards for Chinese that I forgot. I should have studied more over summer, but too late. Oh, and I've been asked to go talk at the engineering freshman welcome about our Chinese program, since I'm the only engineering major in it. I think there's one more guy, but if I remember right he's currently in China, so that leaves only me. Goodness, look at me being so busy. I hope there are enough hours in the day.

By this time next week, classes will have started and hopefully my life will be a little more stable as to what is actually going on. I'll have a job, either as the space building tour guide or as a Teaching Assistant. I'll have homework on a regular basis to keep me busy. I'll have laundry and grocery shopping to do. No more adventures, sadly, to spice everything up. But I think this year will be just as exciting. I'm certainly excited for it.

Oh, and the meteor shower looked fantastic. Everyone assumed I was the expert once I mentioned it, because literally no one else knew it was happening. This led to me constantly being asked questions like "How many will I see?" How ever many your eyes can catch. "Has it started yet, can we go to the field?" Seeing as it isn't exactly dark yet, I would hazard a guess as to no, it hasn't started yet. "Where should we be looking to see them?" Try up, that usually works for me. And of course I'm the one in charge of the field and making sure the campers don't die in the dark by tripping over stuff, because I was the one leading the star gazing impromptu activity. Oh well, it was enjoyable at least. I'm glad the campers liked it. Probably one of the highlights of my year.

Can't wait for next year.

Ah. Welcome back from the summer. I have to admit, going from 8 weeks to nearly 4 months off was definitely terrible. I had no idea what to do with myself by the time June started. And classes still don't start for another two and a half weeks.

But all in all, not a bad summer. And now I'm getting ready for yet another exciting year in college. Not in the dorms this year, I and two friends have gotten an apartment. Nothing big, nothing fancy, just something manageable that is infinitely cheaper than the actual dorms. I moved in last weekend, because it was convenient and I have a camp I need to get to next week, and I figured my parents would appreciate it if I didn't ask them for a ride to campus at 6 in the morning.

The only bad thing about moving in a week before any of your roommates is if they have all of the furniture:

That there is the living room. And my sad lonely little chair. You can't even see the whole room my camera isn't that wide. So for now, that is the only furniture in the apartment aside from the kitchen table and what is currently in my room. It's a little lonely, and slightly awkward when you open the door for the maintenance man to come in and fix something. You can see his eyes try to do a once over of the room, but all they have to land on is that solitary chair. Like I'm trying to live all alone in a two room apartment and not doing a very good job of it. Oh well. Meredith should be here in a week, but Sam won't be joining us until but a few days before school starts up.

I moved in on Saturday, what do you know, it's hot. Every other day so far has been and every day leading up to it had been tolerable. But not the day I move in. My fridge was ironically too hot to touch and bring in when we first unloaded it from the truck. Thankfully I don't have a lot of things, or it would have been a long day of moving and unpacking. As it is, it still quite a fair amount of time to build my bed and desk up. but of course, once we're halfway done, we realize the piece we were missing was rather important. 

Thankfully the guy I bought the bed from happened to be in the area, and I finally managed to get a hold of him in time to have a bed to sleep on that night. So, once the bed was done, mom and dad left me to my devices, which mostly consisted of unpacking my clothes and wiring my motley assortment of devices. In the morning, I tried to organize what little there was left for me to do, and fixed up the bathroom. Damn shower curtain kept falling until I put some mounting putty on the ends. It worked perfectly. Until I took a shower.

It fell on top of me while I was in the middle of scrubbing my head!

I don't know what was worse, the scare it gave me or the way it hit me on its way down. But after I had wrangled it back in place, naked and thankful I was alone in the apartment, I went to go and clean up the kitchen. Put my dishes away, make some dinner. Mom found a rice steamer in the garage, I decided to give it a whirl (it's so tiny and compact and perfect for this, thanks so much mom!). How have I only been eating rice from a pot all this time?!?! I don't know how, or why, but steamed rice has  to be a thousand times better than the stuff from the pot. It was the best bowl of rice cereal I have ever made for myself.

Went to bed, feeling accomplished after all my hard work and praying the shower curtain didn't fall while I was asleep and scare me awake. My bed is rather close to the ceiling, see? Not so much to be a problem, but if I were to jolt awake at, say, I dunno a crashing and clattering of a damned curtain rod, it would very much become a problem. but I'm still alive today, so nothing could have happened. We'll just have to wait and see if the curtain tries to murder me again.

Today, was uneventful. I got the password for the study-room wifi, which conveniently comes into our living room and is how I am posting this today. Meredith was calling the internet people sometime soon, but I can live with this for now. The maintenance man came today as well, because on move in we discovered this little guy hanging out in the broiler drawer of the stove:

Poor little thing was completely glued to the bottom by its melted rubber tires. It took a little prying, but it came off without too much of a fuss. I definitely like the staff around here, they are cheery and professional. so much better than some student run apartment complex hosted by the university. But they are a little farther than the student ones, not that it really matters when you have a bike. Oh well. We'll just have to see how the year goes, one day at a time.

Tried doing a burpee today. If you don’t know what that is, basically you jump up, drop into a squat, pop your feet out behind you, pump out a quick pushup, hop back to your feet, and jump up, doing it all over again. I could jump, I can squat. What I forgot was that I can’t do pushups, and proceeded to fall on my face. I think I’ll stick with jumping jacks and bicep curls for now, with the occasional pushup routine thrown in, done slowly.

In other news, nothing too terribly exciting this week. Visited a friend twice, but she has cats and I forgot to pack medicine. I think I’m slowly inoculating myself though, as I seem to be lasting longer without dying every time I go over. I honestly thought about letting the cats out (she puts them in her bedroom when I visit, bless her) but then I thought that was probably a little premature, cocky, and insane. With my luck the cats would jump into my lap and I’d go into anaphylactic shock and die on her couch. So they stay in the bedroom still.

And I received an email that I have been offered a TA position. Unfortunately, they offered it right after I had applied to another job, which would severely affect my hours of availability that I had reported. So I can’t say yes. I’m still holding out hope for the one I applied to; not only is it better pay, but I really really really want to do it. It’s basically a tour guide for that building I’ve mentioned before, the space one with the really cool open house and 3D theatre and the meteorite collection. I think I’m a good fit, but I’ve thought that before and still have never been hired, so I’m not holding my breath on it just yet.

Speaking of jobs, I go to camp on Monday. I get to be a counselor, which I’m hoping will be good fun, and that we won’t get rained on. Mostly because the Perseids meteor shower is going to be in full swing, and actually at the peak when we’re up in camp. It also happens to be an excellent stargazing spot, so I’m doubly excited. Now I’m just crossing my fingers that counselors don’t have a curfew, and I can go out around midnight, when the meteors are at their best. But I won’t be back until Wednesday, which also happens to be the day where if I’m selected as a finalist for the tour guide position, will be my interview date. Hooray, I’ll probably smell like camp.

And finally, I’ve got my room situated and cleaned. I’m really liking the set-up, and it’s cozy. The desk is huge, which I love, and the bed is big, which is new. I’ve actually got wall space to put up posters, though I haven’t got around to putting up my stickers from last year.

Here's my room as it looks from the doorway. I am loving this new bed, by the way.

And then a little to the side. There's my fridge, handy little thing, and my backpack on a hook that came with the bed. Just to the left of the frame is where my closet it, but that's not interesting so no picture of that.

My desk, with plenty of room for my computer, extra monitor (if you're a student, seriously, invest in a second screen. It is literally the most useful tool I've had all year) and any textbooks I'll be needing to use, along with space for my actual homework to be done.

And finally, my fishtank! Alright, so it isn't my fish exactly. It's my roommate's from last year. But I've really grown to like him, he is an interesting fish, at least more interesting than most. 

Oh, and I think I’ve learned how to use a gas oven and stove. The stove isn’t so bad, but the oven doesn’t ding or anything once it preheats, and everything smells like gas. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time, but it certainly is a new experience. As long as nothing catches on fire more than it should, I think I’ll do great.

Like I said, camp will be until Wednesday, and I can’t see anything exciting happening this weekend, so you’ll probably have to wait until then to get an update. Unless something spectacular happens in between then and now. Which there won’t be. Because there never is.

Two posts in one day?!?! I must be crazy.

But, this one will be short. It's just sort of a status update really. Remember when I said to take care of yourself? Well, make sure you are surrounded by people who do the same. I am currently sucking down hot tea surrounded by fruit, trying to convince myself to go to bed. My roommate and suitemate were tossing bronchitis back and forth for the past month and a half, and now I think my last suitemate and I are finally succumbing to it in the crossfire. But that's what they get; they have terrible eating habits, terrible sleep patterns, and generally don't live well.

I even cleaned out our room and scrubbed the bathroom when they were really picking up in illness. There was bleach and lysol everywhere. The whole suite smelled anti-bacterial, and there was going to be no way I could get sick. If I'm sick during spring break, someone is going to die. I have midterms this week, I can't afford to be sick. For the love of all that is holy, if you live with other people, be courteous, watch your health. Maintaining yourself helps keep them happy. Because if I have bronchitis too, all hell is going to break loose.

So, if you don't hear from me soon, it's probably because when I'm not in class or doing homework, I'm sleeping. Because sleep and tea are always the best remedies. Let's just hope I can make a speedy recovery.

All right. Haven't posted in like two weeks, but I was insanely busy.

I have had three exams, a paper, an interview, and plenty of little things in between to keep me preoccupied. First off, the interview. It was to be a housing assistant, live in the dorms and keep an eye on the freshman sort of thing. I thought the interview went well. But I guess so did 500 other people. Yeah, I didn't realize how many people had applied. So, in the end, I didn't get the job. Now I have to figure out away to pay for another year of school. Hooray, universe, anything else you want to throw at me while I'm down?

Exams, let's not talk about them. They've all been those ones where you look at them, think 'I've got this, this makes so much sense!' and then they are returned with red marks everywhere. Ouch. And apparently studying doesn't work, because the problem is I'm not clever. I can do the math, I can do the theory. What I can't do is look at a problem and instantly know I have to manipulate it, turn it inside out, and then sprinkle it with fairy dust, look at it through an x-ray lense, and then it will be workable. You can't study to be clever.

And so, with this post, I am going to recount all the things I have done wrong in regards to school, and what I should have done instead. This is in hope that anyone reading this who is heading to college, still struggling with college, or even still in high school, because I'm coming to realize that as different as they are, college and high school can be pretty darn similar in terms of how to play the game.

1. DON'T PROCRASTINATE. This has been beat into the heads of everyone ever since we've started school. Heck, there are quotes and sayings throughout history about it. "Don't put off till tomorrow what can be done today" sound familiar? And guess what? They're absolutely right. There are times when I can be a day or two ahead of my workload, but it never lasts long. If you have free time, do your work. Force yourself. Once you start it, your brain makes you anxious until it is finished. It's like looking at a blank page before writing. It's easier to continue once the page has been started.

2. Eat right, and on time. If you eat junk, you will feel like junk. There were some nights when I would just grab a burger because it was there and quick. It was faster than waiting for a healthy deli sandwich or taking the time to make a salad. And those nights, and the morning after, I felt terrible. Tired, sluggish, uncomfortable. Also, don't skip eating. I don't mean eat constantly, just when you're hungry and make sure you're keeping fueled up. Take care of yourself.

3. Use your resources. I can't even begin to list off tutoring opportunities offered by my school. Online, study center, professor office hours, the list goes on and on. They are there for a reason. The lectures and text book are good and all, but sometimes you need that extra oomph to understand, or just one more explanation. People learn in different ways, find out what works for you.

4. Enjoy yourself. It doesn't have to be all work and no play, you just have to know where to draw the line. And sometimes, when you have to be clever with homework, doing something fun and creative can get your brain pumping. You're in college, a new environment, explore it a little. Go to that little ice cream parlor down the street for floats with friends. Explore the nightlife, if that's your cup of tea. This goes with taking care of yourself. Having fun recharges your batteries for those nights when you have to write a physics lab and it takes you 6 hours.

Let me know if you've learned anything else, or want more details on something. these are just my own personal mistakes I've learned from. But they were good lessons, and you can't get anywhere without a few knocks now and then.

My god what a busy weekend.

Interview for the CA position went along swimmingly. I went to bed so early, I actually woke up before my alarm. To my surprise, but it really shouldn't have been, my roommate and suitemate were still awake. Sort of. It was about 6 in the morning. This is what happens when you have Fridays off. You stay up all night Thursday, sleep all day Friday (I came home to my roommate still in bed after I got back from Chinese. At 2:30 in the afternoon), then stay up all night Friday and repeat this until you crash into Sunday night. And skid painfully into the first few days of the week. Though my roommate seems to have that figured out as well, seeing as she doesn't start class until 3 on Mondays.

I have seen her power walking and almost sprinting across campus because she woke up late to it. And it isn't even that far from our dorms.

But I digress. The interview was so amazingly similar to Academic Decathlon (which I did for some time in high school) that I fell right into my routine. Nod, smile, firm handshake, crack a joke, tell a good anecdote, use the buzzwords, ask the right questions. If I don't get the job, kudos to whoever can beat me out of it. But I'm like 99% certain I won the position, now it's just a matter of my placement. Got back to my room, grabbed my homework, and left them all still snoring away blissfully. My roommate's current boyfriend was supposed to interview at the same time as me, but I guess he missed out. There were a surprising number of people who were absent, which just raises my certainty that I'm hired.


Wrote a paper very quickly before I had to dash off to Moderator Training for the local comic convention. I'm quite proud of that paper, never thought I'd enjoy this humanities class so much, glad I got an awesome professor. He's the one who makes you excited about things you had never really given much thought to. Like how the ancient greeks totally knew the earth was a sphere and the exact radius of the earth. A guy, using basic geometry and a hired walking tape measure, was able to calculate it to within one percent of what we know it as today. How is that not mind bogglingly astounding? My mind was boggled, and this particular paper was about Galileo. Perfect.

Moderator training was a blast. Even though it was my first time, there were several other new people there, and we just sort of dove in. Sort of similar to 'Whose Line is it Anyway', there is a nonsensical point system in place that kind of has rewards. If you wear a nerdy T-shirt, 100 points. Make a reference, 10 points. Make one of the instructors laugh so hard he nearly chokes on his water bottle, 1000 points. I'm gonna win this game so hard, it's gonna hurt. We were regaled of horror stories of troublesome crowds, which were hilarious, troublesome guests (which I am under contract to not gossip about, sadly), and troublesome volunteers. The last one was a little sad; why would you screw up an opportunity like that? Some of the more serous offenders were banned from even visiting the convention. I can't even fathom not going. It's like one of the biggest highlights of my year every year.

And today: homework. Lots of it. It's not so much that I don't do it in a timely fashion, though my procrastination certainly contributes, it's just that my teachers don't assign anything too terribly early, and when they do every single one of them assign at the same time. Can we make a motion so that different subjects are due on different days? Sciences can be due Mondays, humanities on Tuesdays, labs on Wednesdays, etc etc. I think that would definitely help streamline my work load, and I could plan my week accordingly. Plus, the teachers would be able to be stricter on due dates, since it was clear from the first day of school when homework would be turned in. I like this idea, I don't know about anyone else, though.

But so far, that's all I have to report. Another long week, though without anything too major happening, so hopefully it'll be nice and easy to get through. My post-it note to-do list never seems to get shorter, but I'm gonna try and make a dent in it tonight. Wish me luck.