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.