First Good Sleep in a While

Last night I dreamt of the zombie apocalypse.

Me- "I don't think Loki really wants to eat my brains."

Loki- "I think I definately want to eat Jay's brains."

Me- "Oh... Well. Um..."

I've been having a hard time keeping on top of my classes. At some point last week I managed to fall behind the schedule I set out for myself. At that point I believe it was mostly extracurricular stuff, such as my job search, my search for undergrad research opportunities, etc. Over the weekend, however, it seems that I managed to fall behind on my homework, which has kind of thrown me for a loop ever since.

It should be simple enough to work hard for a day to catch up, but I've found that I simply don't have the energy during the day. Because I don't get the work done during the day, I stay up late working on just a little late at night, then get up early in the morning so I feel sleepy for the rest of the day. This is what they call a 'vicious cycle,' but one I think I've found a way to combat.

First and foremost I've decided to crack down on my curfew again. It seems to be vital that I get a good amount of sleep at night, otherwise I'm just too tired during the day to get stuff done, even stuff I enjoy. This is helped by my habit of taking naps during the day as well. Now taking naps and getting stuff done seems to be contradictory, however I've found that taking naps helps keep me awake and energetic during the day. I do, of course, need to keep the two balanced, but once I get through this hump I've made for myself, it shouldn't be so much of an issue.

Unfortunately, my early curfew has meant busy mornings while I try getting HW done before class starts, which has usurped my usual morning workout. I'm happy to say that this morning (even though I slept in for an hour), I managed to cook breakfast, do a bit of pre-class studying AND my morning workout, without having to rush anywhere.

SEVEN HOURS LATER

So while I was writing that last sentence, I realize that it was 9:08 and that I was about to miss my Japanese class... Oops.

Don't worry, I got to class in time.

At any rate, I should probably end this rambling post with the last point I wanted to make (I've been keeping track of these things as I think of them). Chem 106 isn't nearly as bad as I expected. Tuesday's lab was actually really fun. I'm kinda tempted to bring some speakers to the next one and play some music while working. Furthermore, once I finally got into Mastering, the HW wasn't too bad either (though it's still a terrible system).

Anywhoo. I need to salvage the rest of this day and see how many checks I can put into my system before 9 tonight.

Salvage Rights and Why I'm Stressed

I'm going to need to start keeping food in the ASME lounge...

I found a bike.

That's not technically accurate, because it implies that I found a bike just recently, which I did not. In fact, I found it sometime in the year when I started living in my apartment. Really, I shouldn't say I 'found it' either, rather that I 'noticed it,' which is to say that I noticed it over the course of the year that I've been living in my apartment, which is to say that I noticed that it was very clearly abandoned, and took it.

I'm very happy about this particular acquisition. It's in remarkably good shape. Sure the tires are flatter than Hell, the gel pads in the seat are kinda nasty and the shifter is suffering rigor-mortis, but the breaks work, the shifter does work (if you can force it), it IS a REALLY nice bike and all these problems can actually be fixed pretty easily. Plus there are two other abandoned bikes where I found this one that I can steal parts from if I need.

I'm optimistic.

That said, I'm also kinda stressed right now. This year I've decided to be the ubermensch and not only take 18 credits (plus two labs), an officer's position in the ASME, lead an ASME competition team, AND organize two study groups, but I've ALSO decided that I need to get up at 5:30 or 6 every morning to do a quick work out and make breakfast. This combined with some late nights working on catching up with homework have left me somewhat stretched. As such, Mom's been worried that I might be over-stretching myself.

But I'm not, at least not yet, and here's why:

Last year I took a lax approach at the beginning of classes. Classes were easy, homework was easy to do at the last minute, and that became my routine. This year I'm trying to get into the habit of staying on top of things from the get go, and this means being hard on myself BEFORE they get nasty.

I'm not over-stretched, just learning better habits.

Mornings

http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/squiddles

Why was this made? Why?

So I've taken up another challenge on top of my ridiculous schedule. Every morning my AWESOME radio alarm clock goes off at 5:30. I've set it to the student radio station, so I listen to some great music for about an hour before getting up at 6:30 when the alarm automatically cuts out. Or at least that's the plan. In reality, the alarm is a little louder than I'd like (the volume slider literally doesn't go down any lower), so I've actually been getting up at closer to 5:45.

As incredible as this is on it's own, I've also taken up a morning workout that I practice while cooking my breakfast. Now that I've started Japanese, I'm also going to have to take up practicing Japanese for two hours as an evening routine.

I'm hopeful that I'll be able to maintain this practice, but we'll see...

Chem 106

The only upside to chem labs is that I can wear my awesome steampunk goggles in a serious context. They're actually WAY better than the terrible plastic ones you can buy here.

I'm up early, so this is going to be short. Last night Clinton had a game night, which I wanted to get to. Unfortunately, I have chem lab then, but NOBODY does lab the first week, right? That'd just be excessive!

I really hate chem lab.

Springier than Spring

I'm attempting to organize a study group with 16 people... Hooboy.

I was walking to the engineering complex today when it dawned on me, I really like this time of the year.

The engineering complex has a big field of grass right in front of it. This area is something of a hub for the various engineering students, and the field of grass was playing host to a bunch of students with theodolites. People were bustling from one place to another, the sun was shining bright, and the new year was full of potential. 'Full of potential' really describes how it felt.

Compare that to spring, however. By the time the sun really starts coming out for spring semester, people are already tired and fed up, they're really only looking forward to summer break, and I usually have a ton of regrets about how I used the year. Right now I still have the energy to get things done.

Full of potential.

A New School Year

Beth pointed out that she only sees me when I'm arriving and when I'm leaving.

So I've arrived back in the GDMMSD, not exactly raring for school, but that's alright. This year is going to be an experience, that's for sure. To start things off, I've got another 18 credit schedule, packed with some pretty damned demanding classes. Here's my schedule:

Physics 2: 8:10 to 9, MWF

Chem. 2: 11:10 to 12, MWF

Dynamics: 12:10 to 1, MWF

Diff. EQ: 1:10 to 2, MWF

Japn. 3: 9:10 to 10, TuWThF

Chem. lab: 6:10 to 9, Tu

Phys. lab: 12:10 to 3, Th

Tuesdays and Thursdays will be reasonably relaxed, which is nice, but the rest of the time I'm going to be pretty busy starting early in the morning. I predict that very quickly I will start getting up half an hour before class and skipping breakfast.

Hopefully not tho.

In addition to this, I've gotta find a job. In addition to that, I've got duties to perform for the ASME.

And adding to the drain on my time, I've also got about a billion side projects I want to take up. I want to revitalize the robotics club, join the hapkido club (or at least think it's hapkido), start working with Kenneth on steampunk stuff, finish drawing a thing for Kyle, learn to program Java and Python, and finally work on my text adventure engine.

I'm probably forgetting something.

At any rate, busy year. To start it off, Thor and Mirra cleaned up the apartment 'cause they're AWESOME! Of course this means that Reilley got a bunch of his stuff just dumped in his room, but then he kinda didn't live up to some of his promises (from what I've heard). In response to that, I cleaned my room!

Starting with my desk:

I came back with about a billion books, which wouldn't fit on that top shelf any longer, so I took all of my comics and stuck them on this little book shelf I found next to the dumpster over the summer:

Right next to it is a pile of all my issues of Make Magazine. For reference, I've place the little duffel bag they used to be kept in, up front:

And after all that was done, I played dress up!

I've seriously been waiting for a week since I got that gas mask to try that. I love my coat. I love my hat. I love my cane (even if it is kinda terrible in ways). I love my army boots and I REALLY LOVE MY GAS MASK!

End of line.

An Unwanted but Appropriate Hiatus

I am sitting in a chair I stole from a dumpster and lugged halfway across campus, on my head, to my apartment. It is glorious.

My last post introduced my Calculus class. I find this appropriate, because it's been kicking my ass ever since. Hence the lack of posts.

THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED IN THE INTERVENING TIME:

Helped Ben move out of his apartment IN ONE NIGHT. Got lots of free stuff, including a bottle of what I've mistakenly been calling Bailey's Irish Cream, but was in fact O'Mara's, and I've been spoiled forever. I said 'was' just then because it is no more. It lasted for three delicious weeks. I would like more when I turn 21.

Molly came over. I really enjoyed having my little cousin over for the weekend after the fourth. I showed her (and a couple other family members who decided to tag along but really aren't very important and really I think we should focus on the real star of the show here) around campus. We had ice cream and swam in the hotel pool quite a bit. Next time I'm going to have to find out how family and the rec center work. Also, we'll have to hit the taxidermy museum here on campus, and hopefully I'll have a key to the ASME lounge as well...

I got the Valve Complete Pack for just over $50. Totally worth it. The water level in Half Life 2 has yet to be topped.

Calculus has been kicking my ass, but don't worry, I've been kicking back. I'm currently getting a low A in this class. This is one of those classes where the really GOOD students get a low A. I'm going to try talking to the teacher, however, because I think his grading system is a little harsh, and he's the kind of teacher who'll listen.

I should prolly tell you about my teacher too! Mr. Lougheed is easily the best math teacher I've had in college, definitely comparable to Mr. Joshi, and I'm tempted to say even better, and in the running for the best teacher I've ever had. His grading can get really harsh (he marks down if people don't include a verb explaining what they're doing, or a variable and an equal sign to show that they're working on a formula), but he's got a strong focus on relating these mathematical tools to real concepts. Not always real world concepts, but something that the students can get a grip on and wrap their heads around. Best yet, he's got experience outside of pure math! If you know me at all, you'll know how much I hate it when math teachers who've never had to understand anything other than context-free math teach pure math to a class filled with engineers and biology students. You'll know how often I preach about the necessity of having outside experience in the APPLICATION of math, before you should even THINK about teaching math. Mr. Lougheed has taught me more linear algebra in four weeks than my linear algebra teacher did in three months.

What else? I baked a cake. It was delicious. I played with kittens. They were adorable, and I think I might kidnap one and keep it in the apartment illegally... (prolly not tho). Saw the last Harry Potter movie. It was awesome. (Nevill x Luna! X3) Started another blog about my current programming project at http://simulatedachievement.blogspot.com/. Hurt my lower back carrying a chair across campus on my head. Need to watch my $$ before winter hits and the electric bill devours all my soul. I think that's it.