aris_merquoni

Here's where I'm going to start posting all the stuff I used to post on my "aris_tgd" LJ account (the non-fannish one.) Not sure what I'm going to do about the whole "writing filter" thing--I may just port that over to my fannish space.

Anyhoo. Here I am! Bye, LJ!

Well, I survived, anyway. Next week starts labs. It should be exciting, or something.

My revised work list:
Read Ch 13 of O-chem textbook.
Read O-chem lab manual, experiment 6
Finish I-chem lab experiment 1
O-chem problem set, due Wednesday
I-chem problem set, due Friday
Fnish physics problem set, due Friday
Physics lab ticket for next Thursday
Perhaps 100 pages of Hum reading

Of this list, the I-chem lab is almost finished, but I don't want to look at it any more today; the physics lab ticket should be trivial; and I'm mostly finished with the physics problem set. The Hum reading also shouldn't be difficult, and I don't have to really finish it until Wednesday.

Well, if I can knock off some of this as soon as possible, it won't loom for later.

Tonight I'd like to get through a few assignments, since it's early and bedtime is late:

* The first couple chapters of the I-chem book, which should be review on structure, but since I haven't actually looked, I shouldn't say.
* Chapter 13 of the O-chem book. Of course, I'd also like to take detailed notes on everything I read in O-chem from here on out, so I don't think I'll start with this one.
* The Greenblatt essay for Hum, "Learning to Curse". More likely I'll start here.
* Physics. Well, Physics involves doing the problem set, not reading the text. I would like to have all my problem sets done early, since I will have much work this semester and less time to do it in. We'll see how long this resolution lasts.

That's one assignment per class, which sounds about right. Here's to getting a good chunk of that done tonight.

I'm also listening to an infinite loop of J-pop and other music in Japanese. This is not to confuse and disorient me; it's just me remembering that I don't know Japanese any more and would like to remedy that.

A while back, my boyfriend forcibly reminded me how strange normals are. I was complaining halfheartedly about the muscles I'd strained during the capoiera class, which were making it hard for me to walk, and almost impossible to walk without some pain. I'd made mention of it for possibly the twentieth time, and he turned to me and asked, "Are you glad you took the class?"

Completely bewildered, I replied of course I was glad. Why would he ask such a thing?

"Well, the way you're hurting--"

I seriously couldn't comprehend what he was talking about, or what the connection was between the pain I was in and my enjoyment of the class. When I responded, "It's just pain," he was struck with a similar realization. Dancers are weird.

Well, normals are weird. Pain is a normal consequence of moving. Dancers just realize it more concretely.

---

Today I had to get my grades from my advisor. Well, it didn't have to be today, but I only have until the sixth to send out my internship applications, so I might as well.

There's something funny about having grades on paper in front of you. It does screwy things to your head.

Well, to me, anyway. I started reacting like I did in high school whenever I got a printout. I felt good for a while, and then I started tallying things I could do to bring up a couple of my ongoing class grades. I mean, if I do some extra work on the problem sets, and study a little more for the tests, then...

I had to slap myself. I don't want to be in high school any more. I want to learn this stuff, not regurgitate it. And I certainly don't want to be working for a grade. It's an artificial sort of incentive, and it makes me feel dirty, somehow.

Maybe it's just because I've gone a year and a half without knowing my GPA, and not caring all that much.

It's also sort of a social stigma. You're not supposed to know your GPA. If they tell you, you're not doing well.

Maybe it's just because I've been in class all day, and I'm tired.

Well, today was good, for the most part, until the evening.

I mean, the evening being bad has nothing to do with the day. I really enjoyed digammagirl's Prisoner marathon. Lots of fun, finally saw the end, much crazyness.

Only...

Only I was supposed to meet Noah today, because he brought Stormi down to see the FLCL marathon, which was happening over in psych.

Only, by the time I got out of the Prisoner marathon, psych was locked down.

Only, I realized that I had to read the entirety of The Tempest, which I haven't really read before, by the time I crash tonight. (I have.)

Only, I could go looking for him, but it's eleven-o-fucking-clock in the evening, and if I have a hope in hell of making it to my nine am lecture tomorrow, I have to be asleep by midnight.

Some quiet time alone with my boyfriend appears to be a lot to ask.

As you may or may not have heard, CBS is refusing to air MoveOn's "Bush in 30 Seconds" ad because it has "political bias." However, they are happily running an ad sponsered by the White House.

Seems silly, no?

Anyone reading this can help by going to moveon.org and e-signing their petition. With enough support, we might be able to turn this thing around.

Haven't updated in a while, so I should.

Spent the last few days hanging out with people, going to Paideia classes, and watching the State of the Union(188 drinks). Today, I had a really fun emergency drill at the reactor, and a great class on Capoiera. I am sore, but feeling good.

Also, started period and lots of headaches and hopefully the end of the PMS crams. Huzzah.

Um, in other news, I'd like to apologize to folk for being out of contact. It's been a week for running around and reestablishing myself. I'll be back to stressed and sitting online doing and avoiding homework soon enough.

And in other other news, my room is a whole lot cleaner than it was. And since I found my camera, if I get it cleaned up another step or two, I might actually remember to take pictures.

1. Eat greens. Salad bar time for me now that Commons is open again.
2. Vacuum my floor. This involves getting things off my floor so that this is possible.
3. Try and hit that origami workshop. It's been a while since I've folded anything besides a crane.
4. FIND PEOPLE. Too long have I holed up in my room. I'm feeling better, now time to socialize.

So I got in two days ago and I'm already sleep deprived. But you know, everything will be okay.

Sunday night, cupacoffey did me a huge favor and picked me up from the airport. We hung out at her place and figured out how to make FTP work on the computer she's housesitting. We went and grabbed Chinese food for dinner. Mmmm, chow mein. After that, she dropped me off at Noah's place, and we all talked for a long time. Long enough that I panicked about having to be at Reed at 9am.

It wasn't so bad. Work was fun, in that we got to play with the gigantic radiation source to calibrate the radiation monitors. After lunch, we came back and discovered that someone had used the lift (that we needed to position the source) to move lead bricks. If we wanted it, we had to move the bricks. I went and stood in the corner between two pipes and the wall and put the bricks underneath my feet. It was interesting.

After that, and the final RAM calibration, I studied and started to get my rabbit certification, but Noah showed up because he had to work, and had to pick me up early. So I went to work with him, and afterward we watched most of the important episodes of Babylon 5 S2 with Stormi. We're almost done. This is good, since that means we got to see all the good stuff in S2, and S3, and then move to S4. Yay, S4!

So today I finished my rabbit certification and showed off the Spinthariscope. Here's to more Babylon 5, and the rest of the day going smoothly.