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So, I feel like I should write here a bit more often. There are a number of reasons for this, which are listed below in no particular order:

• I miss blogging.
• A lot of my readership have just gone off to college and are physically further away.
• I want to feel as though I'm connecting with my family and friends as much as I have in the past.
• I've gotten 3 IMs in the last 24 hours basically saying "you should blog... now." ;)
  

Not that I'm one to cave to peer pressure (at least not often), but it's really a good point. For all of those reasons, I should be writing this right now.

And so I am.

But enough nonsense. A self-referential blog post isn't what you came here for. No one wants or needs that. You, dear reader, want to know about my life!

Or at least, I'm assuming you do. After all, you came here.

First and foremost, my classes are going pretty well. It's always hard to tell just three weeks in how things are going to be, but I'm fairly confident this time around. As always, there are many annoying quirks in each class, but I won't dwell on them (at least not here). After all, they pale in comparison to Laurel's dropped class, although I'm sure I find them just as frustrating at times.

I'm actually pleased with all of the members of my ChE 0301 lab team, which was a pleasant surprise considering I didn't know any of them prior to our first lab session on 4 September. As expected, Biochem is an interesting class despite the fact that it annoyingly falls on Tuesday nights. World Music is definitely fun and interesting; however, I'm a little bit anxious about the first exam on 17 September because I've never taken a formal music class here before and I have only a vague idea of what the exam will be like in terms of format, content, and the like. So I'll definitely be studying up for that.

I've been doing okay with waking up, too. For example, on 3 September, I watched Gov. Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention online, since I figured I might as well hear what she has to say in order to have any hope of making an informed decision in November. Her speech ended at around 23:15, at which point I decided to head for bed. One problem: I hadn't yet read over the lab for ChE 0301 the next morning.

I told myself that I'd get up at 07:00 to read it and do some other work before lab at 10:00... and I actually did. After a wakeup routine of about 20 minutes, I was actually alert enough to read and comprehend the lab manual. And then I realized that I was ever-so-slightly more of a morning person for doing so. Really, when was the last time I subconsciously decided to go to bed before midnight?

This isn't to say that I'm suddenly a morning person. Au contraire, mon frère. I mean, I'm writing this in the late evening hours, so that should be at least something of an indicator.

On a typical weekday this fall, I've had my "gentle beep" alarm go off at 07:50, followed by my louder "music" alarm at 07:56. I then fumble for my computer and wake it up, and it starts playing BBC World Service Radio at 07:59, just in time for the hourly news bulletin. Early on, I'd be out of bed when it ended at 08:06, but lately I've listened to the program in a half-dozed state until the break at 08:30. That's not good on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when I have the 09:00 class, but at least I'm waking myself up... and I'm trying to stay informed while doing so.

Speaking of the 09:00 class (Materials), we just had a guest lecturer who presented a case study on airplane engine failures. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm sure glad that that lecture was on 12 September and not 11 September. Because it wouldn't be very tactful to be talking about things going wrong with airplanes on 11 September.

I might be informally tutoring Physics 1, because I've got a couple of acquaintances who aren't having such a good time in that class right now. I helped one of them with kinematics just this afternoon. It took a little while to get the juices flowing in that direction again, but I think we made progress. And progress is good.

Um, that's about all I have now. Hopefully I'll be able to blog about some other things in the near future. But for now, it's late... and I must get to bed.

Random tangent: I've gotten back on a caffeine-regulated schedule. So long as I control my intake, all is well with the world.