Thursday, December 30, 2010
Chicago
In CHicago with the family.... just saw Wicked. Pretty amazing play if I do say so myself... I'd encourage everyone to see it! It's like someone mixed up a bowl of Oz and awesome!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Home Sweet Home
Well, I'm finally home! Got home Tuesday night (and promptly slept till 130 this afternoon) then ran a few errands with my dad before having a Christmas party with some friends. I'm up at 3am since they only left about an hour ago and I'm still wired from caffeine and adrenaline. Maybe I'll play some video games till I pass out... nah. Should probably go to bed after writing this.
Anywho! Update on my end o' the year progress. Though I'm still missing my last grade, my year is looking about as thoroughly mediocre as I'd expected. B- in Discrete math, C+ in Differential Equations (Calc 4), and a C- in Programming. The C- is the most suprising, because I'd entirely believed I'd gotten an F! I'd done so terrible in the class I essentially just took the final to prepare myself for taking it next semester when I retake the class. However due to some grading eccentricities, I get a C- instead of an F. This is good news, because my ROTC scholarship has two limitations. 1. Don't get an F or F-equivalent. 2. Don't drop below a 2.5 GPA. The F likely would have broken both, suspending my scholarship.
Needless to say, bad. But somehow I got lucky and pulled through, leaving me safe for next semester! Good news indeed.
Add that to knowing I'm top 3 in my ROTC class heading into FTP semester, I am essentially assured a spot at Field Training this summer, which means you can see me in my shiny officer duds come next year. Hua! Teach me some freshman how to march!
Also good news came from my application to Residence Staff. I'd applied to be an RA (and potentially a CA) and was told to expect a response 'by the 22nd.' Which apparently means 'midafternoon on the 22nd.' Anywho, opened to email to be told that I was placed as an alternate! This means that I'm in place for when the people who realize they don't want to be RAs drop, I get their spot. Apparently, almost all alternates get an opportunity at an RA spot. So essentially... I got the job! Now all that remains to be seen if the location of wherever I get assigned to after somebody drops is somewhere I want to be. If it is, I'll be rocking my RA badge next semester and living high off of the fact I'll be going to college for free. (You can thank me later Mom and Dad. :P)
If I don't like it, well, I'll likely be living in North Quad again with the same group of guys. Yes, it's that cozy. :D
And hm... on the home front. My experience with girls continues to be one helluva roller coaster. See, Thanksgiving I basically had a relapse into my post-breakup feelings. However, after I conversation gone wrong later that week between me and Katelyn and her corresponding totally inappopriate cold-shouldering of me (followed by telling me she started dating literally THE biggest tool I know in Army ROTC) the rose tinted glasses came off and I realized she'd been generally a b***h to me for the past 3 months. Yes, the cuss is warranted. :P
This was good though! Because I rapidly got over her, and somehow have managed to pick myself up a new girl in the form of Leslie, a girl from my ROTC. Am I lucky or what? More on that as it develops.
So with that relationship budding slowly, and me laying the foundation this past week for what may be some sort of a lasting friendship with Katelyn after I finally got her out of my head, and life is looking pretty good right now.
Merry Christmas, indeed.
Anywho! Update on my end o' the year progress. Though I'm still missing my last grade, my year is looking about as thoroughly mediocre as I'd expected. B- in Discrete math, C+ in Differential Equations (Calc 4), and a C- in Programming. The C- is the most suprising, because I'd entirely believed I'd gotten an F! I'd done so terrible in the class I essentially just took the final to prepare myself for taking it next semester when I retake the class. However due to some grading eccentricities, I get a C- instead of an F. This is good news, because my ROTC scholarship has two limitations. 1. Don't get an F or F-equivalent. 2. Don't drop below a 2.5 GPA. The F likely would have broken both, suspending my scholarship.
Needless to say, bad. But somehow I got lucky and pulled through, leaving me safe for next semester! Good news indeed.
Add that to knowing I'm top 3 in my ROTC class heading into FTP semester, I am essentially assured a spot at Field Training this summer, which means you can see me in my shiny officer duds come next year. Hua! Teach me some freshman how to march!
Also good news came from my application to Residence Staff. I'd applied to be an RA (and potentially a CA) and was told to expect a response 'by the 22nd.' Which apparently means 'midafternoon on the 22nd.' Anywho, opened to email to be told that I was placed as an alternate! This means that I'm in place for when the people who realize they don't want to be RAs drop, I get their spot. Apparently, almost all alternates get an opportunity at an RA spot. So essentially... I got the job! Now all that remains to be seen if the location of wherever I get assigned to after somebody drops is somewhere I want to be. If it is, I'll be rocking my RA badge next semester and living high off of the fact I'll be going to college for free. (You can thank me later Mom and Dad. :P)
If I don't like it, well, I'll likely be living in North Quad again with the same group of guys. Yes, it's that cozy. :D
And hm... on the home front. My experience with girls continues to be one helluva roller coaster. See, Thanksgiving I basically had a relapse into my post-breakup feelings. However, after I conversation gone wrong later that week between me and Katelyn and her corresponding totally inappopriate cold-shouldering of me (followed by telling me she started dating literally THE biggest tool I know in Army ROTC) the rose tinted glasses came off and I realized she'd been generally a b***h to me for the past 3 months. Yes, the cuss is warranted. :P
This was good though! Because I rapidly got over her, and somehow have managed to pick myself up a new girl in the form of Leslie, a girl from my ROTC. Am I lucky or what? More on that as it develops.
So with that relationship budding slowly, and me laying the foundation this past week for what may be some sort of a lasting friendship with Katelyn after I finally got her out of my head, and life is looking pretty good right now.
Merry Christmas, indeed.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The long awaited post... warning. Epic length.
Here it is! Seriously! I am writing in this blog for the first time since sliced bread was invented I think. I can't remember that far back.
So, summary of what's been going on here:
Classes have been up and down and sideways and in between. My Philosophy class is likely at an A-, due to an A on my first paper and a B+ on my second. I'm enjoying the class, and enjoying having my brain suffer under difficult questions such as "does every positive fact need an explanation?" Yeah. Something you literally cannot prove, yet the assumption that it is true underlies so many things about the universe. We've been doing a lot of Philosophy of Religion stuff... though lately we've been doing some Philosophy of Mind (which I'm behind on!) Interesting, painful stuff. Next semester I will be taking Political Philosophy too (as opposed to the Environmental Philosophy or Contemporary Moral Problems that I was also looking at. Stupid schedule.) which should be interesting but in the end I expect we'll just have a lot of people disagreeing about stuff. Gonna be fun though.
Math has been doing surprisingly well for my strategy for working through it. I have been to maybe 4 lectures all year, and don't actually go to the dicussions or labs except to turn in my homework. This is because everytime I go to one of these classes, I get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING out of them. I don't learn math well in a group setting, especially not in a lecture hall where the teacher just blathers on up at the board and just assumes we can all follow him. Urg. So this has been essentially an independent study course for me. What this has meant for my grade, strangely enough, was a B+ on my last exam. So I could be looking at a B, B- in the class for the semester... maybe better if I can comprehend all the stuff needed for the final. This bodes well for my goal of raising my cumulative GPA over a 3.0 by the end of this semester.
My EECS 203 (Discrete Math) class has been going... ok? I pass all the exams reasonably well, I sort of understand the work... but I don't really feel like I have a solid hold of the material and I certainly am not looking at anything above a B for the semester unless I ace the final. I don't really know what else to say about the class.... it's logic, it's algorithms, it's comparisons between things... interesting at very rare points but the rest of the time boring.
And on to the biggie, my programming class. I have did so badly on the first exam and project 3 that I'm pretty sure I am going to fail this class. Alas, I didn't realize this till after the Drop Deadline, so I'm stuck sticking it out till the end of the semester. Essentially, I need to ace the last two projects (one of which I'm waiting for a grade on) and ace the exam... and maybe I could get a C? I need a C to not have to retake it again next year. Now, what I find strange about this is the fact that I did so well in my programming class last semester and enjoyed it so much that I switched majors, but now I'm having so much trouble with this class. I mean, I certainly enjoy programming... but I'm not sure I've put in enough time and effot to grasp it? This class could easily consume my life, I think. I'll definitely be studying for it over Christmas so I can take the next class in it, or, sadly, if I have to retake it again.
ROTC is going exceedingly well. I of course have my little mishaps now and then... forgetting about stuff and being late on it being my main issue, but I feel like I have a really, really good grasp on what is going on. I'm one of the top 3 in the entire class (or so I've been told) and my job as Color Guard Liaison continues to go well. I'm definitely looking forward to next semester where the pace is going to pick up and I can really challenge myself. This first semester has been sort of an extended review for me of the stuff that I learned last year.
Another thing I've been working on the past few weeks has been the application to be an RA for next year. The written application I thought was very good, and I passed through into the interview process. I had my interview Friday morning at 0800 in the morning (blerg) and I thought it went pretty well. I should hear back by the 22nd if they were thoroughly impressed by my awesome anecdotes and explanations about the definiton of Social Justice.
Here's hoping for not paying room and board next year! Free College! Woohoo!
And on to the juicy gossip... my personal life.
Things with you know who continue to be a roller coaster of epic proportions in terms of how the situation is. I'm more or less over her, but I have my days where I realize that I really haven't moved on. Then I have my days where I'm hopeful that I have and feel better about myself. Either way, the friendship that we had last year is steadily being worked back towards.. but I need to take a step back and stop thinking that I have any sort of claim on being an important apart of her life anymore. Made the wrong assumption this past week and royally pissed her off. You live, you learn, you facepalm.
Anyway, as a very tiny few of you know, I was flirting with a girl in my building a few weeks ago, but I realized I didn't want that to go anywhere, and thus it didn't. So I'm still single. Hellloooo ladies! Cadet Kleinau looks good in uniform and is a Pokemaster.
Some other stuff I've been killing time with recently has mainly involved a little game called Warhammer 40k. It's a board game... uses models that I have to assemble and paint myself... and it's pretty popular internationally. It's like taking the model airplanes you built as a kid and adding rules for them. There's a shop about 5 minutes from my dorm that's been putting on a campaign/tournament which I've been doing decently well in... and me, Mike, and my friend John are all involved. It's a lot more interesting than video games (though I loove me some video games) because it's a lot more strategic and you get the whole real life 3-d aspect from overlooking a board. So that's maybe once a week, good way to kill a night. In fact, that's what the three of us did last night. Some people go out and party... we go play board games. Oh, and then I went and partied at Stockwell (they had a ball/dance/rave/whatchmacallit) after with the girls. Always interesting. Strange that for how bad at dancing and singing I am I like going to such things so much. >.>
Well, I should REEAAALLLY get to work. Last week before exams, and I have a paper, 3 homework projects, an ROTC exam, a Programming Project, and of course my exams for all my REAL classes. And then my semester will be over. Thank. The. Lord.
Hope you enjoyed my monumentous wall of text... and maybe we'll get back to doing this more often shall we? (I always say that.)
So, summary of what's been going on here:
Classes have been up and down and sideways and in between. My Philosophy class is likely at an A-, due to an A on my first paper and a B+ on my second. I'm enjoying the class, and enjoying having my brain suffer under difficult questions such as "does every positive fact need an explanation?" Yeah. Something you literally cannot prove, yet the assumption that it is true underlies so many things about the universe. We've been doing a lot of Philosophy of Religion stuff... though lately we've been doing some Philosophy of Mind (which I'm behind on!) Interesting, painful stuff. Next semester I will be taking Political Philosophy too (as opposed to the Environmental Philosophy or Contemporary Moral Problems that I was also looking at. Stupid schedule.) which should be interesting but in the end I expect we'll just have a lot of people disagreeing about stuff. Gonna be fun though.
Math has been doing surprisingly well for my strategy for working through it. I have been to maybe 4 lectures all year, and don't actually go to the dicussions or labs except to turn in my homework. This is because everytime I go to one of these classes, I get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING out of them. I don't learn math well in a group setting, especially not in a lecture hall where the teacher just blathers on up at the board and just assumes we can all follow him. Urg. So this has been essentially an independent study course for me. What this has meant for my grade, strangely enough, was a B+ on my last exam. So I could be looking at a B, B- in the class for the semester... maybe better if I can comprehend all the stuff needed for the final. This bodes well for my goal of raising my cumulative GPA over a 3.0 by the end of this semester.
My EECS 203 (Discrete Math) class has been going... ok? I pass all the exams reasonably well, I sort of understand the work... but I don't really feel like I have a solid hold of the material and I certainly am not looking at anything above a B for the semester unless I ace the final. I don't really know what else to say about the class.... it's logic, it's algorithms, it's comparisons between things... interesting at very rare points but the rest of the time boring.
And on to the biggie, my programming class. I have did so badly on the first exam and project 3 that I'm pretty sure I am going to fail this class. Alas, I didn't realize this till after the Drop Deadline, so I'm stuck sticking it out till the end of the semester. Essentially, I need to ace the last two projects (one of which I'm waiting for a grade on) and ace the exam... and maybe I could get a C? I need a C to not have to retake it again next year. Now, what I find strange about this is the fact that I did so well in my programming class last semester and enjoyed it so much that I switched majors, but now I'm having so much trouble with this class. I mean, I certainly enjoy programming... but I'm not sure I've put in enough time and effot to grasp it? This class could easily consume my life, I think. I'll definitely be studying for it over Christmas so I can take the next class in it, or, sadly, if I have to retake it again.
ROTC is going exceedingly well. I of course have my little mishaps now and then... forgetting about stuff and being late on it being my main issue, but I feel like I have a really, really good grasp on what is going on. I'm one of the top 3 in the entire class (or so I've been told) and my job as Color Guard Liaison continues to go well. I'm definitely looking forward to next semester where the pace is going to pick up and I can really challenge myself. This first semester has been sort of an extended review for me of the stuff that I learned last year.
Another thing I've been working on the past few weeks has been the application to be an RA for next year. The written application I thought was very good, and I passed through into the interview process. I had my interview Friday morning at 0800 in the morning (blerg) and I thought it went pretty well. I should hear back by the 22nd if they were thoroughly impressed by my awesome anecdotes and explanations about the definiton of Social Justice.
Here's hoping for not paying room and board next year! Free College! Woohoo!
And on to the juicy gossip... my personal life.
Things with you know who continue to be a roller coaster of epic proportions in terms of how the situation is. I'm more or less over her, but I have my days where I realize that I really haven't moved on. Then I have my days where I'm hopeful that I have and feel better about myself. Either way, the friendship that we had last year is steadily being worked back towards.. but I need to take a step back and stop thinking that I have any sort of claim on being an important apart of her life anymore. Made the wrong assumption this past week and royally pissed her off. You live, you learn, you facepalm.
Anyway, as a very tiny few of you know, I was flirting with a girl in my building a few weeks ago, but I realized I didn't want that to go anywhere, and thus it didn't. So I'm still single. Hellloooo ladies! Cadet Kleinau looks good in uniform and is a Pokemaster.
Some other stuff I've been killing time with recently has mainly involved a little game called Warhammer 40k. It's a board game... uses models that I have to assemble and paint myself... and it's pretty popular internationally. It's like taking the model airplanes you built as a kid and adding rules for them. There's a shop about 5 minutes from my dorm that's been putting on a campaign/tournament which I've been doing decently well in... and me, Mike, and my friend John are all involved. It's a lot more interesting than video games (though I loove me some video games) because it's a lot more strategic and you get the whole real life 3-d aspect from overlooking a board. So that's maybe once a week, good way to kill a night. In fact, that's what the three of us did last night. Some people go out and party... we go play board games. Oh, and then I went and partied at Stockwell (they had a ball/dance/rave/whatchmacallit) after with the girls. Always interesting. Strange that for how bad at dancing and singing I am I like going to such things so much. >.>
Well, I should REEAAALLLY get to work. Last week before exams, and I have a paper, 3 homework projects, an ROTC exam, a Programming Project, and of course my exams for all my REAL classes. And then my semester will be over. Thank. The. Lord.
Hope you enjoyed my monumentous wall of text... and maybe we'll get back to doing this more often shall we? (I always say that.)
Monday, November 29, 2010
After Thanksgiving comes...
Two weeks until exams.
I'll put up a larger post for you all later today, but I've got class now. I just felt bad not updating in, oh, a light year. Even though that's a measure of distance.
*shrugs*
I'll put up a larger post for you all later today, but I've got class now. I just felt bad not updating in, oh, a light year. Even though that's a measure of distance.
*shrugs*
Friday, November 12, 2010
Busy as a beaver working night shift.
Yeah, that's been me the past few weeks. Busy as h-e-double-hockey-sticks.
Essentially, I had a programming exam I wasn't ready for, a Programming Project I started way too late, homework I was behind on, a Philosophy paper to write, a Color Guard event to organize by pretty much myself, ROTC inspections, a rare opportunity to visit Ferris St. to see Julie for the the first time in ages, an EECS exam, and now this upcomign Monday a Math exam.
I. Want. To. Punch. Things.
But in all reality, stuff is finally winding down. I've been low on sleep because of having to constantly wake up early the past few days, but at least I haven't needed all nighters recently, and I've had some small amount of free time to take breaks the last few days. Now I just need to buckle back down as hard as I was during my rough weeks. Gotta get those grades up!
Mainly because I'm worried about my prgramming grade. 27/100 on exam that had an average of 54 with a Standard Deviation of 22. No idea what that means I technically got, but it's certainly not good. For the future exams, I need to learn how to program faster because at my current rate there is no way I can program 4 seperate programs in an hour and twenty minutes. It's just not happening.
However, my philosphy and EECS 203 seem to be going all right. Waiting on my latest paper grade for Philosophy, but the first was an A so here's hoping... and the exam I just took for EECS actually went really well I thought so my hopes are high. I'll let you know.
As for personal life, you can all breathe a sigh of relief I'm sure to know that I'm feeling a lot better. Being obscenely busy helped, but I think I finally managed to get the friendship restarted with Katelyn. Took her long enough to let it *grumble grumble grumble*. <_< But that has me immensely pleased and has finally let my mind focus on, you know, school. The reason I'm here in the first place. Oh Happy Day!
Hmph. Well, I'd continue to elaborate on what you all are missing out on hearing from me, but I've got to go get lunch with a girl from my ROTC program.
Shush you. It's entirely platonic.
Essentially, I had a programming exam I wasn't ready for, a Programming Project I started way too late, homework I was behind on, a Philosophy paper to write, a Color Guard event to organize by pretty much myself, ROTC inspections, a rare opportunity to visit Ferris St. to see Julie for the the first time in ages, an EECS exam, and now this upcomign Monday a Math exam.
I. Want. To. Punch. Things.
But in all reality, stuff is finally winding down. I've been low on sleep because of having to constantly wake up early the past few days, but at least I haven't needed all nighters recently, and I've had some small amount of free time to take breaks the last few days. Now I just need to buckle back down as hard as I was during my rough weeks. Gotta get those grades up!
Mainly because I'm worried about my prgramming grade. 27/100 on exam that had an average of 54 with a Standard Deviation of 22. No idea what that means I technically got, but it's certainly not good. For the future exams, I need to learn how to program faster because at my current rate there is no way I can program 4 seperate programs in an hour and twenty minutes. It's just not happening.
However, my philosphy and EECS 203 seem to be going all right. Waiting on my latest paper grade for Philosophy, but the first was an A so here's hoping... and the exam I just took for EECS actually went really well I thought so my hopes are high. I'll let you know.
As for personal life, you can all breathe a sigh of relief I'm sure to know that I'm feeling a lot better. Being obscenely busy helped, but I think I finally managed to get the friendship restarted with Katelyn. Took her long enough to let it *grumble grumble grumble*. <_< But that has me immensely pleased and has finally let my mind focus on, you know, school. The reason I'm here in the first place. Oh Happy Day!
Hmph. Well, I'd continue to elaborate on what you all are missing out on hearing from me, but I've got to go get lunch with a girl from my ROTC program.
Shush you. It's entirely platonic.
Friday, October 15, 2010
A much delayed update
It's been a while since I've kept up this blog as I should. Apparently my goal of weekly posts has been quite a failure. Sorry!
So here's the update on Paul:
First off I should comment on the subject of my last couple posts, which is the discussion of my girl troubles. The situation has drastically improved, as we're now talking fairly regularly. I'm not entirely sure she trusts me not to make a move and thus isn't being entirely as close as I'd like, and well, I've moved on from the relationship but that isn't to say by any means I'm over her. So, I'm making the choice everybody recommends against, and continuing to hang out with her when possible. In general that sort of... extends the moving on process but let's just say I'm not the type to want to color in the lines and lose a good friend because of a relationship. I'm weird. We've established this. :P So beyond her I'm trying to reconnect with friends who I've liked in the past and looking around for Campus groups to join where I could meet some new girls and find some options. It's a process, but y'all can rest assured I'm much better today than I was the entire month of September.
Second! School stuff. First month was notably rough for an entirely good reason, I assure you.
I was out of pencils.
No really. :P My motivation was low for class and thus I'm behind in most everything. Doesn't mean I'm doing badly in my classes though. Got my Philosophy paper back and it was a 96%, and the Professor was very complimentary of style and substance, with the only downsides being a few more requests for detail in some cases.
My EECS 203 Discrete Math class is going distinctly average. 47/85 on the first exam, but the average was a 49. So it could use some work but that class should be fine.
Programming is waiting on my second Project Grade. I haven't been following the lectures because he's talking to a group beyond my programming level, but lecture slides and the internet help resolve that. I have another massive project to start soon, but I think I'm doing well.
Then there's Calc 4. I dunno my grade yet but I'm pretty sure I failed my first exam. I know what I'm studying for Fall Break! :P
ROTC continues to go well. There's always room for Improvement but I would rate myself very well individually among the current batch of cadets. And I think our current batch of cadets is quite good.
The ROTC Alpena trip went quite well. Surprisingly the MOUT training with Airsoft guns was the low point of the trip due to poor training by the Marines in charge of teaching us. As a whole though, fun and informative.
And now I will try and attach those room pictures you've been waiting on... let's test shall we?
So here's the update on Paul:
First off I should comment on the subject of my last couple posts, which is the discussion of my girl troubles. The situation has drastically improved, as we're now talking fairly regularly. I'm not entirely sure she trusts me not to make a move and thus isn't being entirely as close as I'd like, and well, I've moved on from the relationship but that isn't to say by any means I'm over her. So, I'm making the choice everybody recommends against, and continuing to hang out with her when possible. In general that sort of... extends the moving on process but let's just say I'm not the type to want to color in the lines and lose a good friend because of a relationship. I'm weird. We've established this. :P So beyond her I'm trying to reconnect with friends who I've liked in the past and looking around for Campus groups to join where I could meet some new girls and find some options. It's a process, but y'all can rest assured I'm much better today than I was the entire month of September.
Second! School stuff. First month was notably rough for an entirely good reason, I assure you.
I was out of pencils.
No really. :P My motivation was low for class and thus I'm behind in most everything. Doesn't mean I'm doing badly in my classes though. Got my Philosophy paper back and it was a 96%, and the Professor was very complimentary of style and substance, with the only downsides being a few more requests for detail in some cases.
My EECS 203 Discrete Math class is going distinctly average. 47/85 on the first exam, but the average was a 49. So it could use some work but that class should be fine.
Programming is waiting on my second Project Grade. I haven't been following the lectures because he's talking to a group beyond my programming level, but lecture slides and the internet help resolve that. I have another massive project to start soon, but I think I'm doing well.
Then there's Calc 4. I dunno my grade yet but I'm pretty sure I failed my first exam. I know what I'm studying for Fall Break! :P
ROTC continues to go well. There's always room for Improvement but I would rate myself very well individually among the current batch of cadets. And I think our current batch of cadets is quite good.
The ROTC Alpena trip went quite well. Surprisingly the MOUT training with Airsoft guns was the low point of the trip due to poor training by the Marines in charge of teaching us. As a whole though, fun and informative.
And now I will try and attach those room pictures you've been waiting on... let's test shall we?
Monday, September 27, 2010
Dorm Room!
Well, my life keeps a rolling on. Homework continues to pile up and get thrown down, though progress is finally being made after a marathon 5 a.m homework run last week. O.o I slept so much this weekend it's not even funny. Really. Nobody laughed. Not even me.
Anywho, girl troubles are also decreasing. Mainly because I'm getting better at giving her space, and as such the few times we see each other (football games, para examplo) have gotten a lot nicer, more friendly, etc. To go a bit more in depth into my thoughts... despite all advice, all logic, everything everyone has been telling me... I'm going to try and end this breakup at least once. She's too good a catch to follow common sense and logic about. :P Whether or not she's willing to give me a chance to win her back is a total unknown... but I have the beginnings of a plan, and that plan also coincidentally involves me convincing myself that I can move on if I wanted to. Double win? Double lose? Heck if I know, but it's a learning experience. I do doubt that the bit of a tangle I'm in hopefully will never happen again, no matter what the results of her decision are in a few weeks when I check back in to see if she's ready to talk. But you all can rest assured that my emotional state will be assuredly more stable even if this does fall apart again.
Mmm yes. Serious business done. I don't want to talk too much about that, although maybe if you all ask enough I can run through the entire two weeks up to this point. That would be a LONG post however, and I'd rather have these be happy, fun-filled affairs!
Thus is why I bring you pictures of my dorm room! Yes, after two weeks of living in, I finally bring you pictures of the elusive Kleinau college residence.
......
......
......
Well I'll admit I planned for this blog post to have said pictures but the internet is not cooperating. Sadly. Watch this space closely for more attempts!
Anywho, girl troubles are also decreasing. Mainly because I'm getting better at giving her space, and as such the few times we see each other (football games, para examplo) have gotten a lot nicer, more friendly, etc. To go a bit more in depth into my thoughts... despite all advice, all logic, everything everyone has been telling me... I'm going to try and end this breakup at least once. She's too good a catch to follow common sense and logic about. :P Whether or not she's willing to give me a chance to win her back is a total unknown... but I have the beginnings of a plan, and that plan also coincidentally involves me convincing myself that I can move on if I wanted to. Double win? Double lose? Heck if I know, but it's a learning experience. I do doubt that the bit of a tangle I'm in hopefully will never happen again, no matter what the results of her decision are in a few weeks when I check back in to see if she's ready to talk. But you all can rest assured that my emotional state will be assuredly more stable even if this does fall apart again.
Mmm yes. Serious business done. I don't want to talk too much about that, although maybe if you all ask enough I can run through the entire two weeks up to this point. That would be a LONG post however, and I'd rather have these be happy, fun-filled affairs!
Thus is why I bring you pictures of my dorm room! Yes, after two weeks of living in, I finally bring you pictures of the elusive Kleinau college residence.
......
......
......
Well I'll admit I planned for this blog post to have said pictures but the internet is not cooperating. Sadly. Watch this space closely for more attempts!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Birthday!
First off, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. I had a pretty solid day of that... 74 Facebook comments, several texts, and three phone calls. It was a pretty good day.
That, and I gained a wee small bit of closure today. For those of you who don't know, my girlfriend Katelyn broke up with me two Sundays ago, and I was in a bad state last week because of it. Today I had another talk with her, and while hopes are slim for any sort of reunion ANYTIME soon, I now have a solid thing to blame for the current situation I'm in, and there's hope that I can turn this whole thing back into a friendship.
Whether or not a couple of months down the road that changes again... we'll see if that happens, and if I even want it to happen then. But, whatever the case... hopefully within a week or two she'll be able to stand my presence on a more regular basis. Hooray!
So, all in all the pretty good birthday. Some very... interesting presents from my friends, some good advice, baby steps towards restoring a friendship... I think it'll all turn out OK.
As a side note: my address here is -
Paul Kleinau
8285 North Quad
105 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Pictures of my dorm to come sooner or later! :P
That, and I gained a wee small bit of closure today. For those of you who don't know, my girlfriend Katelyn broke up with me two Sundays ago, and I was in a bad state last week because of it. Today I had another talk with her, and while hopes are slim for any sort of reunion ANYTIME soon, I now have a solid thing to blame for the current situation I'm in, and there's hope that I can turn this whole thing back into a friendship.
Whether or not a couple of months down the road that changes again... we'll see if that happens, and if I even want it to happen then. But, whatever the case... hopefully within a week or two she'll be able to stand my presence on a more regular basis. Hooray!
So, all in all the pretty good birthday. Some very... interesting presents from my friends, some good advice, baby steps towards restoring a friendship... I think it'll all turn out OK.
As a side note: my address here is -
Paul Kleinau
8285 North Quad
105 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Pictures of my dorm to come sooner or later! :P
Monday, September 13, 2010
Soory about the delay...
Sorry about the lack of blog posts. I've been pretty busy this past week... that and yesterday was absolutely brutal towards my motivation to do, well, anything.
I'll sum it up with this: Girl troubles.
I'll talk more once I'm objective enough to talk about it.
I'll sum it up with this: Girl troubles.
I'll talk more once I'm objective enough to talk about it.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The New School Year!
So after a delayed start this year my first journal entry is about to go up! Hoorah! Woohoo! Wheee!
Anywho, I suppose I should do a rundown of my summer for those of y'all not connected with my everyday life.
Beginning of the Summer was slow. I hung out a lot with friends and generally didn't accomplish a whole lot. I applied for several jobs, however I didn't receive a single reply back for a job offer (until, of course, August) so I didn't accomplish much on that front.
However, in July, I went on my Vegas trip for ROTC. We were out there for two and a half weeks, and spend the trip touring the various groups who work on base. High points of the trip include seeing more fighter jets than I've ever seen in my life, due to the fact their was an international training event going on; being shown that Facebook is a terrifylingly easy way to get info on people; and getting a helicopter ride in a UH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter. A boo-ya.
I got back from Vegas and proceeded to head immediately to the UP, where I spent two weeks hanging out with the Goodney side of the family and seeing the Cousins. As always, fun.
On my way back, I stopped overnight in Bellaire to see my girlfriend before heading home. Days later I headed back up to Bellaire (it's on Torch Lake) where another friend from school has a cottage. Me, Katelyn, and my friends Nicole and Kathryn spent about 3 days hanging out around the lake and seeing the town (as small as it was.)
THEN, I spent two weeks relaxing before packing up for college. Which is where I am now. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.
Heh. So I've been here a few days, strolling around, seeing campus, and meeting friends again. In fact, I was so busy having fun that I only finished full unpacking my room yesterday. But it looks fantastic! I'll explain the room more once I get pictures taken.
I suppose I should I mention classes while I'm here. I'm taking Calc 4, Dicrete Math (Logic Math), A C++ Programming Class, and Philosophy. Along with ROTC. Should be another informative year... we'll see how it goes once I get into the swing of things.
Well that's all for now! Hope you all enjoy hearing about another year of Paul!
Anywho, I suppose I should do a rundown of my summer for those of y'all not connected with my everyday life.
Beginning of the Summer was slow. I hung out a lot with friends and generally didn't accomplish a whole lot. I applied for several jobs, however I didn't receive a single reply back for a job offer (until, of course, August) so I didn't accomplish much on that front.
However, in July, I went on my Vegas trip for ROTC. We were out there for two and a half weeks, and spend the trip touring the various groups who work on base. High points of the trip include seeing more fighter jets than I've ever seen in my life, due to the fact their was an international training event going on; being shown that Facebook is a terrifylingly easy way to get info on people; and getting a helicopter ride in a UH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter. A boo-ya.
I got back from Vegas and proceeded to head immediately to the UP, where I spent two weeks hanging out with the Goodney side of the family and seeing the Cousins. As always, fun.
On my way back, I stopped overnight in Bellaire to see my girlfriend before heading home. Days later I headed back up to Bellaire (it's on Torch Lake) where another friend from school has a cottage. Me, Katelyn, and my friends Nicole and Kathryn spent about 3 days hanging out around the lake and seeing the town (as small as it was.)
THEN, I spent two weeks relaxing before packing up for college. Which is where I am now. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.
Heh. So I've been here a few days, strolling around, seeing campus, and meeting friends again. In fact, I was so busy having fun that I only finished full unpacking my room yesterday. But it looks fantastic! I'll explain the room more once I get pictures taken.
I suppose I should I mention classes while I'm here. I'm taking Calc 4, Dicrete Math (Logic Math), A C++ Programming Class, and Philosophy. Along with ROTC. Should be another informative year... we'll see how it goes once I get into the swing of things.
Well that's all for now! Hope you all enjoy hearing about another year of Paul!
Monday, April 26, 2010
The year in review...
Well with last week bringing a head to my studies, I can safely say that I am DONE with this school year. Success! Passing! Go Team! Sure, I don't know my grades yet (I got an A in Air Force class. There's not even a chance it's NOT an A.) but I feel that, despite the stress that happened to be floating about the room those few days last week, I did much better on all three of my tests than expected. Which, I swear, I hope turned out well because Physics needs a 60% or better so I don't have to take it again. And... let's just say I don't want to take it again.
Urg. Anywho... in retrospect. I actually sat down today to read through my original blog posts to see if I found anything interesting. I'm quite glad I kept this blog/journal this year, because it remembers things a lot better than I do. (That weird dream I had... so creepy!) What I'm noticing is not so much that I've changed since then... but I chuckle at how little I knew about ROTC then. Ah. Good times.
College has been interesting. It's been really the first time I've been free to do whatever I want for the first time in my life. Stay up till 5 am? Fine. Go see a movie? Fine! Eat dinner at 11 every night? Sweet! Study for three days straight? Coooool.
I've met a lot of new friends, including some truly awesome people. (more on that on the dramatic end to this post.) I've got to experience a lot of new things, hear a lot of new perspectives on common things I thought for true. Most obviously, I suppose, is my political beliefs. Back home, I watched Fox News and heard from Rush Limbaugh on the radio a lot. Here, at good ol' Liberal Michigan, I hear pretty much the exact opposite from a majority of people. What have I learned? That neither side is always right, every plan makes sense from some angle, and nobody is evil. Michelle told me "You've become more liberal," last time I was home. I suppose so. I plan to happily reside in the center of things and try best to use my common sense.
And so now... a tribute to my friends from this year, who I won't see again for likely 4 months. They likely won't read this, ever, but I feel like it should be down in words somewhere. This is a journal. I'll look back on this and laugh sometime. Ha. Hahaha.
The guys:
To Andrew Baker: Our resident overstudier, Political Science major who takes himself too seriously and has more stress than any one person should be able to stand. I highly enjoy our political debates. Hopefully summer will provide some nice relaxation for you so you can come back with your sanity intact next year.
To Carson: The man who always seems to know everything about everyone in this dorm. Really. No idea how. I should have listened to you earlier. (Foreshadowing!)
To John Morin: You, sir, make me wonder how you even got into Michigan, much less ROTC. But, for some reason I've kept you around... so obviously you're doing something right. Here's hoping you got that GPA up.
To Schroeder, Kyle: From the Tri-cities, to Robotics, to Air Force, to here, you are obviously my long lost twin half brother from a particularly wacky soap opera. You may be an egotistical [word] sometimes, but 'gosh darn it' if that's not part of why we like you. We're gonna miss you, and good luck at the Air Force Academy. *salutes*
To Mike: Where to begin? 7 years now we've been friends, and we just proved common thought wrong by proving that we can get through a year of college as best friends in the same dorm room without snapping each other's heads off. I'd say that's good progress. You're always there for me, you know WAY more than you should, and you never hesitate to make sense in surprising ways. Your girl troubles amuse/worry me, and I sincerely hope you figure it all out in the end.
The girls:
To Kathryn: Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we made sense. Hanging out with you, Carson, and Baker provide no end to crazy things that don't make a lick of sense. You're never down, and you and Carson are always a font of (slightly insane) wisdom. Be awesome, and hopefully I'll see you this summer (you don't live too far!)
To Megan, Nicole, Sophia, and Julie: The other 4 girls from Frost. I never really hung out with any of you regularly enough to have good individual comments, (don't punch me! Aah!) but all I can say is: you guys are awesome.
To Katelyn: Ah, what can I say. I'll say it again, I've as dense as a nice hunk o' granite. There are way too many things I could say within this post... and this one is getting long enough already. Let's just go with: You much, much smarter than me, more mature by far, as capable as anyone I've ever seen... and yet for some reason you put up with me. I don't think I've stopped smiling yet.
So yeah. If that wasn't obvious... family and fellow readers I'd like to inform you that last night some short time after midnight, I asked Katelyn out. She said yes.
:D
Urg. Anywho... in retrospect. I actually sat down today to read through my original blog posts to see if I found anything interesting. I'm quite glad I kept this blog/journal this year, because it remembers things a lot better than I do. (That weird dream I had... so creepy!) What I'm noticing is not so much that I've changed since then... but I chuckle at how little I knew about ROTC then. Ah. Good times.
College has been interesting. It's been really the first time I've been free to do whatever I want for the first time in my life. Stay up till 5 am? Fine. Go see a movie? Fine! Eat dinner at 11 every night? Sweet! Study for three days straight? Coooool.
I've met a lot of new friends, including some truly awesome people. (more on that on the dramatic end to this post.) I've got to experience a lot of new things, hear a lot of new perspectives on common things I thought for true. Most obviously, I suppose, is my political beliefs. Back home, I watched Fox News and heard from Rush Limbaugh on the radio a lot. Here, at good ol' Liberal Michigan, I hear pretty much the exact opposite from a majority of people. What have I learned? That neither side is always right, every plan makes sense from some angle, and nobody is evil. Michelle told me "You've become more liberal," last time I was home. I suppose so. I plan to happily reside in the center of things and try best to use my common sense.
And so now... a tribute to my friends from this year, who I won't see again for likely 4 months. They likely won't read this, ever, but I feel like it should be down in words somewhere. This is a journal. I'll look back on this and laugh sometime. Ha. Hahaha.
The guys:
To Andrew Baker: Our resident overstudier, Political Science major who takes himself too seriously and has more stress than any one person should be able to stand. I highly enjoy our political debates. Hopefully summer will provide some nice relaxation for you so you can come back with your sanity intact next year.
To Carson: The man who always seems to know everything about everyone in this dorm. Really. No idea how. I should have listened to you earlier. (Foreshadowing!)
To John Morin: You, sir, make me wonder how you even got into Michigan, much less ROTC. But, for some reason I've kept you around... so obviously you're doing something right. Here's hoping you got that GPA up.
To Schroeder, Kyle: From the Tri-cities, to Robotics, to Air Force, to here, you are obviously my long lost twin half brother from a particularly wacky soap opera. You may be an egotistical [word] sometimes, but 'gosh darn it' if that's not part of why we like you. We're gonna miss you, and good luck at the Air Force Academy. *salutes*
To Mike: Where to begin? 7 years now we've been friends, and we just proved common thought wrong by proving that we can get through a year of college as best friends in the same dorm room without snapping each other's heads off. I'd say that's good progress. You're always there for me, you know WAY more than you should, and you never hesitate to make sense in surprising ways. Your girl troubles amuse/worry me, and I sincerely hope you figure it all out in the end.
The girls:
To Kathryn: Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we made sense. Hanging out with you, Carson, and Baker provide no end to crazy things that don't make a lick of sense. You're never down, and you and Carson are always a font of (slightly insane) wisdom. Be awesome, and hopefully I'll see you this summer (you don't live too far!)
To Megan, Nicole, Sophia, and Julie: The other 4 girls from Frost. I never really hung out with any of you regularly enough to have good individual comments, (don't punch me! Aah!) but all I can say is: you guys are awesome.
To Katelyn: Ah, what can I say. I'll say it again, I've as dense as a nice hunk o' granite. There are way too many things I could say within this post... and this one is getting long enough already. Let's just go with: You much, much smarter than me, more mature by far, as capable as anyone I've ever seen... and yet for some reason you put up with me. I don't think I've stopped smiling yet.
So yeah. If that wasn't obvious... family and fellow readers I'd like to inform you that last night some short time after midnight, I asked Katelyn out. She said yes.
:D
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
A minor break!
Busybusybusy. Or at least distracteddistracteddistracted. With my programming exam finished today, I finally remembered to set aside some time to write in here!
So... a bunch of stuff has happened. First off, some fantastic news! I got my math Exam back... with an A-! Boo ya! First A in college! Have a party! Go me! w00t! Etc.!
Yeah. So, I'm pretty solid now. Unless I TOTALLY blow up on the final, the combined grade between my math and programming will definitely hold me above a 2.5, saving my scholarship! And with luck and some studying, and a mild recovery of the ol' Physics grade, I could pull it up to a 3.0! The only thing dragging me down right now is that Physics grade... so, with nothing of huge importance until that exam next week... you know what I'll be doing! :D
So... two weekends ago, my high school had it's 2nd semester play, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hilarious. One of the better plays I've seen the school put on... (they've gotten better over the past few years, but nothing compares to last year's ;) ) The play itself is quite silly, and the good ol' actors there put on a jolly good show, If I do say so myself... inspired me to think about trying to find a play next fall to try. Maybe a one act or something. A comedy.
And this past weeked I had the joy of Warrior Weekend with ROTC! Back up to Alpena for a day and a half of intense training, drill, physical training, along with the added bonus of being taught how to use a compass and map for navigation. AND, of course, the primary reason I enjoy this particular base in Alpena... the MOUT (Movement Over Urban Terrain) course. Basically a mock up of a street for some urban combat training. We used Airsoft guns. SOOOOO fun. I really need to find somewhere to play on my own with some friends... fun, fun stuff.
So Warrior Weekend was pretty intense... I made some mistakes, learned from them, learned from other's mistakes... it was such an awesome learning experience, and it was pretty fun time. So... hua. It was pretty awesome.
Hopefully I'll write again without a 3 week wait!
Regards,
Paul
So... a bunch of stuff has happened. First off, some fantastic news! I got my math Exam back... with an A-! Boo ya! First A in college! Have a party! Go me! w00t! Etc.!
Yeah. So, I'm pretty solid now. Unless I TOTALLY blow up on the final, the combined grade between my math and programming will definitely hold me above a 2.5, saving my scholarship! And with luck and some studying, and a mild recovery of the ol' Physics grade, I could pull it up to a 3.0! The only thing dragging me down right now is that Physics grade... so, with nothing of huge importance until that exam next week... you know what I'll be doing! :D
So... two weekends ago, my high school had it's 2nd semester play, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hilarious. One of the better plays I've seen the school put on... (they've gotten better over the past few years, but nothing compares to last year's ;) ) The play itself is quite silly, and the good ol' actors there put on a jolly good show, If I do say so myself... inspired me to think about trying to find a play next fall to try. Maybe a one act or something. A comedy.
And this past weeked I had the joy of Warrior Weekend with ROTC! Back up to Alpena for a day and a half of intense training, drill, physical training, along with the added bonus of being taught how to use a compass and map for navigation. AND, of course, the primary reason I enjoy this particular base in Alpena... the MOUT (Movement Over Urban Terrain) course. Basically a mock up of a street for some urban combat training. We used Airsoft guns. SOOOOO fun. I really need to find somewhere to play on my own with some friends... fun, fun stuff.
So Warrior Weekend was pretty intense... I made some mistakes, learned from them, learned from other's mistakes... it was such an awesome learning experience, and it was pretty fun time. So... hua. It was pretty awesome.
Hopefully I'll write again without a 3 week wait!
Regards,
Paul
Friday, March 12, 2010
Many many things...
You'll have to excuse the lack of updates recently. I spent all last week studying for physics in my free time... and well, we'll talk later about how that went.
First off, the DC trip! It was awesome. We got to Bolling Air Force Base midafternoon, and got rooms at a temporary housing "hotel" that was more like a set of apartments than anything else. We had an oven, dishwasher, washer and dryer... and 3 beds and a pullout couch. Quite cozy.
First day of the trip, we toured the Air Base. During that time we saw the Air Force Honor Guard, who does various ceremonies as well as the burials at Arlington.
After that, we saw the Air Force Band. Coolest job ever. You get to be in a symphony, as a talented musician... but you get paid a legitimate amount of money! And benefits! Pretty much a dream job. Did I mention there's an Air Force Rock Band too?
Then the combat dogs with Security forces....
Pretty awesome. After that we visited the Washington Mall, with all the sightseeing therein...
So, all in all, a fun day. Afterwards, we ate dinner at a real nice restaurant called Old Ebbitt Grill which was, frankly, delicious. Then back at the room we made a frozen pizza and watched a movie. Speaking of movies, between the nights and the bus rides, we probably watched about 7. My God. So many.
Next day, we MEANT to go to the pentagon, but after getting up at 530 and waiting an hour and a half in the FREEZING COLD we were told we couldn't go in. Awesome. Apparently some guy shot two guards in the pentagon metro and raised security clearance everywhere. I was NOT happy with him.
The rest of that day was pretty uneventful. Really, we didn't do much, other than being given free time for a while. Everybody took a 2+ hour nap, including myself, but me and a few other guys went and played some basketball first.
Then we left, and here I was back in the grind of things.
Speaking of the grind... school! How I hate it so! My programming exam gave me a C, which apparently was 5+ points above the average, but will get dropped because we drop the lowest exam grade in that class. Ah well. I understood the material, or I do now. I still like the class.
Unlike Physics. *shudders* I spent probably a combined time of close to 24 hours over the space of 5 days studying for the stupid thing, only to go and take it and run out of time! I COULD have passed it if I had been allowed to work on every problem... but I only got actual answers down on 12 out of the 20! I get my grade back yesterday, and it was a 35. ARGH. WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO PASS THIS CLASS?
All I can figure is keep up the intensity of studying that I did for the exam throughout the next month until the next exam. I NEED to ace it. If I get 70s on the next to tests, with the built in curve to the class, I'll pull a C-. Unsatisfactory. I NEED to pass the class, but I also NEED a good grade in it, for pride and for future stuff with my major! I just, don't, get it. I get the material... but these tests just throw me for a loop every time! Why? Do they WANT their students to fail?? I will never need to do any physics like this ever again unless I become a physics major. Can't they just apply it directly to what most people will use the class for? Real life applications? It's just... such a poor way to run a school system. I'm NOT in the lower 1/3 of this school for intelligence and dedication. Yet that's how these tests constantly put me. It's infuriating.
/end of rant
I apologize. Sometimes I just need to complain to clear my head. So there! All cleared up. Now I can end this blog post on a slightly better note. Can't end unhappy can we?
Two things coming up on this weekend. First off is the Tri-service Military Ball. It's basically a big get together for the free services with dinner and a bit of dancing... just fun stuff. I'll be going with a date, a girl from the other end of my hall, Katelyn. So, hopefully it'll be fun. I'm kinda looking forward to it.
Also, the ol' high school is putting on it's play this weekend, so I'll be heading home Saturday Morning/Afternoonish to watch a Midsummer Night's dream. Hopefully it will be, how you say... fantastico!
First off, the DC trip! It was awesome. We got to Bolling Air Force Base midafternoon, and got rooms at a temporary housing "hotel" that was more like a set of apartments than anything else. We had an oven, dishwasher, washer and dryer... and 3 beds and a pullout couch. Quite cozy.
First day of the trip, we toured the Air Base. During that time we saw the Air Force Honor Guard, who does various ceremonies as well as the burials at Arlington.
After that, we saw the Air Force Band. Coolest job ever. You get to be in a symphony, as a talented musician... but you get paid a legitimate amount of money! And benefits! Pretty much a dream job. Did I mention there's an Air Force Rock Band too?
Then the combat dogs with Security forces....
Pretty awesome. After that we visited the Washington Mall, with all the sightseeing therein...
So, all in all, a fun day. Afterwards, we ate dinner at a real nice restaurant called Old Ebbitt Grill which was, frankly, delicious. Then back at the room we made a frozen pizza and watched a movie. Speaking of movies, between the nights and the bus rides, we probably watched about 7. My God. So many.
Next day, we MEANT to go to the pentagon, but after getting up at 530 and waiting an hour and a half in the FREEZING COLD we were told we couldn't go in. Awesome. Apparently some guy shot two guards in the pentagon metro and raised security clearance everywhere. I was NOT happy with him.
The rest of that day was pretty uneventful. Really, we didn't do much, other than being given free time for a while. Everybody took a 2+ hour nap, including myself, but me and a few other guys went and played some basketball first.
Then we left, and here I was back in the grind of things.
Speaking of the grind... school! How I hate it so! My programming exam gave me a C, which apparently was 5+ points above the average, but will get dropped because we drop the lowest exam grade in that class. Ah well. I understood the material, or I do now. I still like the class.
Unlike Physics. *shudders* I spent probably a combined time of close to 24 hours over the space of 5 days studying for the stupid thing, only to go and take it and run out of time! I COULD have passed it if I had been allowed to work on every problem... but I only got actual answers down on 12 out of the 20! I get my grade back yesterday, and it was a 35. ARGH. WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO PASS THIS CLASS?
All I can figure is keep up the intensity of studying that I did for the exam throughout the next month until the next exam. I NEED to ace it. If I get 70s on the next to tests, with the built in curve to the class, I'll pull a C-. Unsatisfactory. I NEED to pass the class, but I also NEED a good grade in it, for pride and for future stuff with my major! I just, don't, get it. I get the material... but these tests just throw me for a loop every time! Why? Do they WANT their students to fail?? I will never need to do any physics like this ever again unless I become a physics major. Can't they just apply it directly to what most people will use the class for? Real life applications? It's just... such a poor way to run a school system. I'm NOT in the lower 1/3 of this school for intelligence and dedication. Yet that's how these tests constantly put me. It's infuriating.
/end of rant
I apologize. Sometimes I just need to complain to clear my head. So there! All cleared up. Now I can end this blog post on a slightly better note. Can't end unhappy can we?
Two things coming up on this weekend. First off is the Tri-service Military Ball. It's basically a big get together for the free services with dinner and a bit of dancing... just fun stuff. I'll be going with a date, a girl from the other end of my hall, Katelyn. So, hopefully it'll be fun. I'm kinda looking forward to it.
Also, the ol' high school is putting on it's play this weekend, so I'll be heading home Saturday Morning/Afternoonish to watch a Midsummer Night's dream. Hopefully it will be, how you say... fantastico!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Updates!
Well, that's the end of school for spring break. My mind literally shut down today... I feel drained. So glad for the break. Even if it's only two months into the semester... it's still GREAT.
So, found out I'm leaving for the DC base visit Wednesday early morning. So... I'll be heading down here Tuesday night. Yippeee.... but it still should be fun, I suppose. The rest of the week will be AWESOME. Arlington, Pentagon, Washington Mall, the AF base... it's gonna be COOL. And maybe classified. I dunno. Keep quiet. :p
Also! Finally found out the time/date for my summer AF trip! For two weeks, I will be spending time shadowing NCOs at... Nellis Air Force base, not too far from Las Vegas!
I'M GOING TO VEGAS BABY!
Hopefully we'll at least get to see the nightlife down there once. I'd like to see everything all lit up... but what's going to be MORE awesome is the aircraft that fly out of Nellis:
Fighters (F-16, F-22)
Drones (Predator)
Helicopters (Pave Hawk)
Also, apparently one of the AF jet show teams, the Thunderhawks is based out of there. Sooo..... cool.
Anywho, that'll be going down July 14-28. So... hopefully it'll still fit with my schedule. (Math class, job....)
So, I'll be back home tomorrow! I'll get to see the puppy! Hooray!
Now, I'm going to go now before I get TOO excited. After all, I have a physics exam after break ends...
So, found out I'm leaving for the DC base visit Wednesday early morning. So... I'll be heading down here Tuesday night. Yippeee.... but it still should be fun, I suppose. The rest of the week will be AWESOME. Arlington, Pentagon, Washington Mall, the AF base... it's gonna be COOL. And maybe classified. I dunno. Keep quiet. :p
Also! Finally found out the time/date for my summer AF trip! For two weeks, I will be spending time shadowing NCOs at... Nellis Air Force base, not too far from Las Vegas!
I'M GOING TO VEGAS BABY!
Hopefully we'll at least get to see the nightlife down there once. I'd like to see everything all lit up... but what's going to be MORE awesome is the aircraft that fly out of Nellis:
Fighters (F-16, F-22)
Drones (Predator)
Helicopters (Pave Hawk)
Also, apparently one of the AF jet show teams, the Thunderhawks is based out of there. Sooo..... cool.
Anywho, that'll be going down July 14-28. So... hopefully it'll still fit with my schedule. (Math class, job....)
So, I'll be back home tomorrow! I'll get to see the puppy! Hooray!
Now, I'm going to go now before I get TOO excited. After all, I have a physics exam after break ends...
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Here we go again....
Well, I am officially giving up on my phone sending posts to this blog. Two failed ones in a row. Curses, foiled again. :p
Anywho, the contents of that message expanded into a full blow blog post are as follows:
I need a new phone. My current one has this problem, where it decides to turn itself off on a whim, anywhere, anytime, with no provocation. This is ESPECIALLY bad when I'm studying for my programming exam and miss color guard and math group because my phone is off, sitting right next to me while people call it to ask where I am. Yeah, my day went from average to terrible at about 1030 last night when I checked my phone and realized I'd missed my commitments... <_<
Add that to the fact my programming exam is today, not tomorrow, I can safely say that my internal clock is out of whack, and I am officially stressing out. Thank god spring break is in two days. That's all I have to say. I need all the time I can get for my physics after break ends.
ROTC is still going well, however. Got a 100% on my Physical Fitness test, improving my run time by 20 seconds over last semester! Add that to a very positive midterm review from my flight commander, and the continuing arrival of checks every few weeks from ROTC... and I'm a happy Cadet. :D
In other news, I decided to buy an Ipod Touch. I brought my old MP3 up here to start using, and I proceeded to plug it in... but it wouldn't charge. I think it died somehow. So, I'm going to splurge for an MP3 player that's NOT 5-6 years old, can hold more than a quarter of my music, and gets Wifi so I can check my e-mail without a laptop. :p I figure I've got enough splurge money allotted from my ROTC book stipend and the few checks from each semester that I say are just for entirely disposable income...
So, that's my week. Base Visit and Spring Break next week. All I can say is...
Finally.
Anywho, the contents of that message expanded into a full blow blog post are as follows:
I need a new phone. My current one has this problem, where it decides to turn itself off on a whim, anywhere, anytime, with no provocation. This is ESPECIALLY bad when I'm studying for my programming exam and miss color guard and math group because my phone is off, sitting right next to me while people call it to ask where I am. Yeah, my day went from average to terrible at about 1030 last night when I checked my phone and realized I'd missed my commitments... <_<
Add that to the fact my programming exam is today, not tomorrow, I can safely say that my internal clock is out of whack, and I am officially stressing out. Thank god spring break is in two days. That's all I have to say. I need all the time I can get for my physics after break ends.
ROTC is still going well, however. Got a 100% on my Physical Fitness test, improving my run time by 20 seconds over last semester! Add that to a very positive midterm review from my flight commander, and the continuing arrival of checks every few weeks from ROTC... and I'm a happy Cadet. :D
In other news, I decided to buy an Ipod Touch. I brought my old MP3 up here to start using, and I proceeded to plug it in... but it wouldn't charge. I think it died somehow. So, I'm going to splurge for an MP3 player that's NOT 5-6 years old, can hold more than a quarter of my music, and gets Wifi so I can check my e-mail without a laptop. :p I figure I've got enough splurge money allotted from my ROTC book stipend and the few checks from each semester that I say are just for entirely disposable income...
So, that's my week. Base Visit and Spring Break next week. All I can say is...
Finally.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Now, you may be curious...
...as to why I have several lines of gibberish below this entry, Well, apparently my nifty phone posting system decided to go a bit wonky yesterday. Bit weird...
Anywho, what that was SUPPOSED to be saying was that I was in the gym, commenting that I had gone to PT that morning, went running in the afternoon, and then went swimming for about an hour. So, yeah. I exercised a lot, and it felt pretty good. :D
Had a decently busy night alst night... we went up to North Campus to watch a musical/play/thingie being put on at 7 called "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog." It's basically a thing from youtube that was written during the writer's strike by Joss Whedon. It has Neil Patrick Harris in it... and is about an aspiring supervillain who has his own fair share of problems. Check it out, if you're into us young people's style of humorousness.
Anyway, they were sold out, so we're going today instead. At about 10 though, we went down to the Michigan Union for Umix (a Friday night thing every week for those who don't go partying) where we watched some standup comedy, including some done by the guy across the hall from me. Definitely worth the trip.
After that, we got back here.... me and Mike attempted to play some video games, but both fell asleep by 130. (Which, in college on a Friday night, is EARLY.)
And... that's the news so far! Not much else has been interesting happening... nothing in the news really... though I'm sure you've all heard by now President Obama is doing the commencements here this spring. And... what else.
Not much to talk about. So! THat's all for now. Check ya later.
Anywho, what that was SUPPOSED to be saying was that I was in the gym, commenting that I had gone to PT that morning, went running in the afternoon, and then went swimming for about an hour. So, yeah. I exercised a lot, and it felt pretty good. :D
Had a decently busy night alst night... we went up to North Campus to watch a musical/play/thingie being put on at 7 called "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog." It's basically a thing from youtube that was written during the writer's strike by Joss Whedon. It has Neil Patrick Harris in it... and is about an aspiring supervillain who has his own fair share of problems. Check it out, if you're into us young people's style of humorousness.
Anyway, they were sold out, so we're going today instead. At about 10 though, we went down to the Michigan Union for Umix (a Friday night thing every week for those who don't go partying) where we watched some standup comedy, including some done by the guy across the hall from me. Definitely worth the trip.
After that, we got back here.... me and Mike attempted to play some video games, but both fell asleep by 130. (Which, in college on a Friday night, is EARLY.)
And... that's the news so far! Not much else has been interesting happening... nothing in the news really... though I'm sure you've all heard by now President Obama is doing the commencements here this spring. And... what else.
Not much to talk about. So! THat's all for now. Check ya later.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
So... busy.
Title 'bout sums it up. I've been working pretty hard... going through my routine, and, well, not much has changed. Still trying to pull all my grades up, I have a midterm tomorrow for ROTC (easy peasy) and next week (for programming, hopefully also easy), and... school stuff. We'll just see if I can't make my grades decide to take a bit of a jump here.
Besides that... after next week is my Spring Break! I get the weeked off, potentially might go visit a friend's house in Alma, and that Wednesday 'll be heading off to DC for a base visit! I'm awfully excited. I might have even mentioned the base visit on here already, but hey. It's gonna be fun.
Anywho, off to class! Got a bunch of work to do and plenty of studying to finish before I can get any more slacking off done.
Besides that... after next week is my Spring Break! I get the weeked off, potentially might go visit a friend's house in Alma, and that Wednesday 'll be heading off to DC for a base visit! I'm awfully excited. I might have even mentioned the base visit on here already, but hey. It's gonna be fun.
Anywho, off to class! Got a bunch of work to do and plenty of studying to finish before I can get any more slacking off done.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Rough, rough week.
Title about sums it up. Exams finished and got my grades back... and let me tell you. I was right to worry about Physics and Calc being much harder than my Engineering one...
Let's start with Math. As always, I get the subject material, but something about the exams just puts my mind through a loop. There was not NEARLY enough time for me to finish the test, but I was pretty confident on the parts I did finish. Apparently not. C. Which... I suppose is passing, and it will get me into any major's restrictions fine. It's just... disappointing.
And then there's Physics. Sweet god... physics. See, I thought I did decent on this exam. I thought I pulled a C, maybe a B. Sure, the test started tough, but about 1/3 in, it picked up and I went through all the problems with confidence of how to do them.
I got a 30%.
30.
Let me repeat the number for MY benefit. 30.
Now, I studied. I spent a bunch of time reading through the book, writing my notecard, going to review sessions and my study group... I did a lot of problems, and they made sense. However, something in that test... I just failed apparently. And now... I'm going to have to put night after night after night of solid work for the next 5 weeks until my exam. I NEED to 100% my next exam, or this class will not go well. And the thing is... other than doing more practice problems, I don't know how to study differently. It's just... ugh. I have NO idea what went wrong. But.. this won't happen again. I'll make sure of that.
Enough of the bad news. Good news! In two weeks on Michigan's Spring Break I'll be heading to DC on a base visit. It's gonna be awesome. We're gonna go tourist around a bit see some museums... maybe go to the Pentagon. It's gonna be fun.
So... that's all! Other than those abhorrent tests, things have been going well. I'm REALLY tired right now. I just had swimming class, and we did a lot of endurance, holding our breath... etc. I will sleep good tonight.
Let's start with Math. As always, I get the subject material, but something about the exams just puts my mind through a loop. There was not NEARLY enough time for me to finish the test, but I was pretty confident on the parts I did finish. Apparently not. C. Which... I suppose is passing, and it will get me into any major's restrictions fine. It's just... disappointing.
And then there's Physics. Sweet god... physics. See, I thought I did decent on this exam. I thought I pulled a C, maybe a B. Sure, the test started tough, but about 1/3 in, it picked up and I went through all the problems with confidence of how to do them.
I got a 30%.
30.
Let me repeat the number for MY benefit. 30.
Now, I studied. I spent a bunch of time reading through the book, writing my notecard, going to review sessions and my study group... I did a lot of problems, and they made sense. However, something in that test... I just failed apparently. And now... I'm going to have to put night after night after night of solid work for the next 5 weeks until my exam. I NEED to 100% my next exam, or this class will not go well. And the thing is... other than doing more practice problems, I don't know how to study differently. It's just... ugh. I have NO idea what went wrong. But.. this won't happen again. I'll make sure of that.
Enough of the bad news. Good news! In two weeks on Michigan's Spring Break I'll be heading to DC on a base visit. It's gonna be awesome. We're gonna go tourist around a bit see some museums... maybe go to the Pentagon. It's gonna be fun.
So... that's all! Other than those abhorrent tests, things have been going well. I'm REALLY tired right now. I just had swimming class, and we did a lot of endurance, holding our breath... etc. I will sleep good tonight.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Housing = Complete
Just got my housing contract for next year set up. And despite all odds against sophomores getting rooms there, me and my friends got into North Quad. Yes, North Quad, the newly finished dorm that is supposed to be as nice as physically possible. My room will be bigger, and I'm in a suite with my own bathroom. Me and Mike are together again, and there will be another as yet unknown pair sharing this 4 person suite that-is-not-a-quad with them. Hopefully they'll be awesome. Ya never know. I'm also keeping the same meal plan, which is 150 meals a semester with $200 to spend at various other university eateries. Neato. And it looks about the same price as this year. So... I'm pumped. Whoo. Hoo.
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exception of handguns and tequila - Sara Ford's Blog
Programming Class. Ah, ever so enjoyable. It actually is getting a bit more difficult now though... working with loops and such and, though I understand them, actually writing one is a bit too complex for me. Shame. It's going well otherwise though. Still gleeful about the 88.7%. Ohboyohboyohboyohboy.
Just had a physics exam yesterday. Things have been pretty crazy leading up to it, and I can safely say I somehow still wasn't prepared enough. It was crazy hard. I'm just hoping the class agreed with me... at least, that's what it seemed like from the people I asked. I feel like I passed, sure.... but as for a good grade? Eh... Hopefully. It was REALLY hard.
And to add to my joys, I have a Math exam monday. Guess who'll be doing practice exams all weekend! This kid *points at self.* And integrals are HARD.
ROTC has also been going pretty well... I'm still Flight commander of my Arnold Air Society group, so I'm still dealing with crazy amounts of e-mail, but that's easily dealt with. It's still fun, and I have my first extra activity today, from 5-7 where have just some more intense training known as Warrior Spirit. Fun stuff.
Anyway, that's an update on how things have been going... nothing too detailed. Kinda busy. Whee!
Programming Class. Ah, ever so enjoyable. It actually is getting a bit more difficult now though... working with loops and such and, though I understand them, actually writing one is a bit too complex for me. Shame. It's going well otherwise though. Still gleeful about the 88.7%. Ohboyohboyohboyohboy.
Just had a physics exam yesterday. Things have been pretty crazy leading up to it, and I can safely say I somehow still wasn't prepared enough. It was crazy hard. I'm just hoping the class agreed with me... at least, that's what it seemed like from the people I asked. I feel like I passed, sure.... but as for a good grade? Eh... Hopefully. It was REALLY hard.
And to add to my joys, I have a Math exam monday. Guess who'll be doing practice exams all weekend! This kid *points at self.* And integrals are HARD.
ROTC has also been going pretty well... I'm still Flight commander of my Arnold Air Society group, so I'm still dealing with crazy amounts of e-mail, but that's easily dealt with. It's still fun, and I have my first extra activity today, from 5-7 where have just some more intense training known as Warrior Spirit. Fun stuff.
Anyway, that's an update on how things have been going... nothing too detailed. Kinda busy. Whee!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Anywho. Phone antics aside.
Howdy, all!
It's been a while, so here's what I've been up to. On MLK day, last Monday I went on a ski trip with some friends to a nearby 'mountain.' It's in quotes because it wasn't that big. At all. Anyway, I decided to go snowboarding! Which, normally, would be a poor choice. At best, I can get down a green circle without flling. Note, at best. So, me and a girl down the hall decided to go snowboarding in the morning, thens witch to skis in the afternoon. After many a fall, we reached lunchtime, and switched to skis with the rest of the group, where we proceeded to burn up the 'mountain' with our skillz. (Note the 'z.' We were that awesome.) So, it was a fun trip.
Classes continue to go well. No problems, no overstressing.. it's been pretty good so far. I already have a midterm for programming this week, however, but I think I'm pretty solidly prepared for that. However, more approach in the coming weeks... so I'll have to be ready. I think I'll be good though. Despite putting more effort into studying concepts and such this semester, I'm finding I've had more free time than usual. Maybe it's subjective. I have no idea.
I watched the Matrix last night with friends. Half of them hadn't seen it. It was HILARIOUS. Especially when they wondered why Neo doesn't just pretend gravity doesn't exist and fly around to escape the agents, then actually does so right before the credits. Funny Stuff. And still a great movie, though it was fun seeing the old computers and technology.
See you all hopefully soon!
It's been a while, so here's what I've been up to. On MLK day, last Monday I went on a ski trip with some friends to a nearby 'mountain.' It's in quotes because it wasn't that big. At all. Anyway, I decided to go snowboarding! Which, normally, would be a poor choice. At best, I can get down a green circle without flling. Note, at best. So, me and a girl down the hall decided to go snowboarding in the morning, thens witch to skis in the afternoon. After many a fall, we reached lunchtime, and switched to skis with the rest of the group, where we proceeded to burn up the 'mountain' with our skillz. (Note the 'z.' We were that awesome.) So, it was a fun trip.
Classes continue to go well. No problems, no overstressing.. it's been pretty good so far. I already have a midterm for programming this week, however, but I think I'm pretty solidly prepared for that. However, more approach in the coming weeks... so I'll have to be ready. I think I'll be good though. Despite putting more effort into studying concepts and such this semester, I'm finding I've had more free time than usual. Maybe it's subjective. I have no idea.
I watched the Matrix last night with friends. Half of them hadn't seen it. It was HILARIOUS. Especially when they wondered why Neo doesn't just pretend gravity doesn't exist and fly around to escape the agents, then actually does so right before the credits. Funny Stuff. And still a great movie, though it was fun seeing the old computers and technology.
See you all hopefully soon!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
1st Week: COMPLETE
Well, I got through it. One full week of classes, right up to a nice, 3-day weekend. (I get Monday off :D )
It's been.. interesting. Math has been easy (it's been pretty much review) so I haven't had much trouble so far with that. Physics has been... difficult. It's a lot of formulas, and lectures don't really explain them all that well. So, I spent a coupla hours reading through chapter 1, just to try and make sense of the piles of numbers thrown at my face. It worked out. But next lecture is on Chapter 3. So I can keep working it out tomorrow to catch fully back up. And then there's programming, which surprisingly, has been pretty fun. It's nice and applied. If it doesn't work, there's a reason. THere's no vague concepts or formulas. It's nice for things to actually make sense for once.
ROTC opened up this week as well with... nothing special to report. I have my flight, I'm still doing color guard and drill team... well, I guess there's one new thing besides my job assisting one of the POC. There's a group inside the wing call Arnold Air Society which is kinda like a service group of ROTC people which I'm going to go through this year. This whole semester is the application process for it. Should be interesting.
Intermediate Swimming is still fun, and I'm glad for the extra exercise and excuse to go swimming. (Oh, and mom. The goggles you sent me? I went to pull them on IMMEDIATELY after opening the box, and the strap snapped.) So, I ordered some off of Amazon which should hopefully be nice (They came reccomended pretty nicely off of a few review sites)
I haven't had too much truly "free" time so far either. I've had hours here and there which I've wasted pretty solidly skimming through the internet or hanging with friends, so I'm quite behind on my Christmas books, and I've played maybe 2 or three hours of video games. (That's weird for me. Well, not since I got to college.)
But! It's still all fun, even if my free time is now spent in drastically different ways than at home.
I'm also having fun here debating one of the guys on my hall about politics. I'm not particularly well versed in.. anything, but my friend is a Political Science major who's a Democrat. It's fun to actually talk some things over with him, and get some different points of view. Just yesterday, I got into a mini-debate over taxes/corporations and such and I actually flustered him to the point where he left to go walk by himself for a while. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But gosh darn it, I'll debate him until everything makes sense! (Otherwise known as... forever.)
And there we go. Another blog post done. See y'all next time!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
First weekend of the new semester
Well, I'm a few classes in now. A few. We'll see how it works out... but I think I'll be ok. There's going to be a LOT of numbers flying around this semester though. Between Math, Physics, and Programming soon I'm going to start seeing things like the Matrix.
"I... I can see the code! I must be the One!" *levitates Mountain Dew out of fridge and continues studying*
So yeah. Should be interesting.
And speaking of interesting, I watched the movie "Watchmen" tonight. First off, I'll say that it is certainly not meant for younger viewers. Blood, violence, a bit of swearing... and two sex scenes that went on a bit longer than was enitrely necessary. We actually started laughing during the second one because of hwo ridiculous it was, and because of the song playing during it. You'll probably recognize it from Shrek, if nothing else.
Anyway, cut through that and you have a movie about a dystopian alternate future. After WW2, people started dealing with crime by dressing up in masks and becoming vigilantes. Like superheroes, but without the powers. This drastically changed how the future formed and changed public policy along with it. Notable examples are Richard Nixon being elected to three terms in office, and an actual bill being passed banning masked heroes and vigilantiism. Then, at a nuclear test center, a scientist got involved in a nuclear accident and somehow became the world's first actual "Super" hero, with real powers, and he REALLY screwed things up, becoming the lynchpin of US defense strategy and winning the Vietnam War... and such. I won't ruin the movie for you. Anyway, the movie essentially tells the stories of a few of these heroes lives, intertwining some very deep questions about morality and what is "right" and "wrong" throughout, leading up to a final confrontation which ultimately ends in what is seemingly a bad way. I won't tell you what happened but... ask yourself this. If you could bring about World Peace by blowing up New York City, would you do it?
It was good. I'm also going to bring up that this movie was written as a graphic novel (read: book length comic book with considerably more plot and design put into it) first, and like all book to movie translations, the book itself was better. And much less gory and offensive. I've heard of the book actually being read in English classes. Neat, huh?
Anyway, classes restart Monday, and ROTC slowly chugs up to full speed thereafter. We missed our first ROTC meeting last Thursday because of the snow, so this coming week is going to be a bit longer... (I'll be doing ROTC from 230-700) I've also found out that I'll be doing a tad bit of extra work this semester, working as a PO (Project Officer) to assists one of the Cadet officers in their wing with their duties. It won't be a lot of extra work but it should be helpful to see how some of the stuff we do comes into being.
And that's all for tonight! (Or morning. It was a long movie, and we talked for quite a while afterward...) See y'all later!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
And a new day begins...
Well, here I am, back at college after a truly wonderful Christmas break. Family, friends, sleeping in, video games, reading... NOT doing homework and studying every night. Seeing Ben for the first time in, I dunno, forever. It was pretty fantastic... and now I'm back here. It's dreary. Physics confused me from five minutes into the class. And I just completed an paper for my programming class. Yes, a paper. On day 1. At least I'm ahead of the game. For now. Unfortunately I'm going to have to wait on my Physics books... which are coming cheap from Amazon but won't show up till the end of the week.
Also, in a bit better news, I had my first swimming class today. It's worth a credit, and... I'm am SO freaking tired. It was great.
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