As the title suggests, first real week of school wrapped up nice and tight in a big pretty bow. Yippee.
First, suppose I should comment on that last post about the RA position. Everything ended up working out in the end. My concern was that by refusing the position, I'd lose my chance at getting a spot for next year. However, because I didn't actually sign up as being available for this semester, I shouldn't have been offered this spot. Thus, I was able to turn down the position whilst remaining in the alternate pool. Now, I just have to hope to get a good spot so I can actually accept it for next year!
Now back to matters at hand, classes appear to going well. Initial programming class thoughts are very positive. New lecturer is fantastic, and I'm actually learning from his lectures... always a benefit, and encouragement to go! That, and since I already have the projects written all I have to do is fix the errors... and whoila! Should get 100%. That's what I'm predicting for Project 1 at least. Ran through my code... found my errors from last time... should be easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Other classes.. can't tell yet. Seem to be going OK but too early to tell exactly how well they'll actually go.
And onto ROTC... well, certainly is interesting for the most part. THe intensity REALLY has picked up. Think: 5-6 Hours a week of somebody constantly telling you you are doing things wrong, and that's what I have to deal with. Seriously! I don't think we've had one moment of positive feedback yet! We can't even motivate each other in PT. Leads to some very quiet sessions... let me tell you. Not a fan of that particular teaching decision.
Anyway, I CAN see how this is necessary though. Essentially every time we go to an event now, it's a simulation of what it will be like when I go to Field Training this Summer. Every movement there will be watched and recorded.... every action needing to be as quick, efficient, and correct as possible...
Anywho, right now a lot of time is being dedicated to dorm maintenance. As in, how to fold clothes, make beds... etc. And man, they are PRECISE down to millimeters for how to position things. It's a little ridiculous, methinks, but hey. Teaches you attention to detail.
Anywho, we've got some visitors from some high schools in Chicago here tonight. Should probably track them down... See you next time!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Uh oh.
So I just got offered a job as an RA for THIS semester on North Campus.
This is bad. I don't think I can take this job, and I'm worried refusing the offer will disqualify me from next semester...
This is bad. I don't think I can take this job, and I'm worried refusing the offer will disqualify me from next semester...
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Back to School!
Arrived back in school this afternoon! Had a nice day of relaxation with friends from my hall, then spent the rest of the night (including up till now) unpacking, preparing stuff for tomorrow, and generally dreading having classes again.
But it's not all bad. My room is now the proud owner of the keyboard I got for Christmas (Thanks Mom and Dad!), I'm typing into a larger external monitor for my laptop (woohoo!) and I've got plenty of gadgets to make my life easier and destress throughout the semester.
And I'm gonna need it! 16 credits (decided not to take the waitlisted 1 credit writing class that woulda made it 17) and ROTC FTP semester. For those not in the know, my FTP semester is essentially several months of intensified training to prepare me for Field Training this summer. It's going to be rough physically and mentally, and, well, I'd rather be sane when I come out the other side. And with a GPA above a 3.0. Hopefully both.
So I'm still waiting on books for, well, all but the class I'm retaking. :P Snail mail has delayed most of them to the weekend, so I'm just glad my schedule allows for no Friday classes, and my Thursday are mostly ROTC dedicated. Minimal amount of classes to not have books for.
So, I'm feeling pretty excited. I know it's gonna be rough and I'm gonna have to seriously lock it down and focus, but it's certainly gonna be a ride. Which, I suppose means I should contradict my last post and say that, no, I have no intention of having a girlfriend or dating anybody anytime soon. I NEED to keep my head clear this semester. Plus if you want the honest truth, in the end someone would just end up disappointed. I still need some time.
But enough with the doom and gloom! I'm gonna do my best to post on here more than last semester, but as always the creative juices need to be flowing... and those don't often flow till 3 a.m. Like it is right now.
Great start to the school year eh? :P
But it's not all bad. My room is now the proud owner of the keyboard I got for Christmas (Thanks Mom and Dad!), I'm typing into a larger external monitor for my laptop (woohoo!) and I've got plenty of gadgets to make my life easier and destress throughout the semester.
And I'm gonna need it! 16 credits (decided not to take the waitlisted 1 credit writing class that woulda made it 17) and ROTC FTP semester. For those not in the know, my FTP semester is essentially several months of intensified training to prepare me for Field Training this summer. It's going to be rough physically and mentally, and, well, I'd rather be sane when I come out the other side. And with a GPA above a 3.0. Hopefully both.
So I'm still waiting on books for, well, all but the class I'm retaking. :P Snail mail has delayed most of them to the weekend, so I'm just glad my schedule allows for no Friday classes, and my Thursday are mostly ROTC dedicated. Minimal amount of classes to not have books for.
So, I'm feeling pretty excited. I know it's gonna be rough and I'm gonna have to seriously lock it down and focus, but it's certainly gonna be a ride. Which, I suppose means I should contradict my last post and say that, no, I have no intention of having a girlfriend or dating anybody anytime soon. I NEED to keep my head clear this semester. Plus if you want the honest truth, in the end someone would just end up disappointed. I still need some time.
But enough with the doom and gloom! I'm gonna do my best to post on here more than last semester, but as always the creative juices need to be flowing... and those don't often flow till 3 a.m. Like it is right now.
Great start to the school year eh? :P
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*
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