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?
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