Back to Blogging Basics

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.

Term 2091

Very quickly, and very briefly, before we get started, I need to stick to tradition and mention that I got a C in Organic Chemistry 2 over the summer, which puts me at a cumulative average of 3.525 on 70 credits; the old concern with the old OChem 1 grade being counted has been resolved.

This fall's classes are as follows:

Class Title and Credit Value
ChE 0300	Transport Phenomena	6 cr.
ChE 0301	Transport Phenomena Laboratory	1 cr.
ChE 1085	Departmental Seminar	0 cr.
ChE 1530	Biochemistry for Engineers	3 cr.
ENGR 0022	Materials Structure and Properties	3 cr.
MUSIC 0311	Introduction to World Music	3 cr.
MUSIC 0612	Heinz Chapel Choir	1 cr.
MUSIC 0630	Marching Band	1 cr.
		18 cr.

Classes begin 25 August 2008; final exams are 8-13 December 2008. No classes 1 September for Labor Day; no classes 13 October for Fall Break, Monday classes instead observed on 14 October; no classes 26-28 November for Thanksgiving Recess.

As you can see, I have nice big open afternoons. I'm not sure what to think of it yet, but I have the feeling it's a good thing, because I can do errands, do homework, do internship searches, or whatever else needs to be done during that time.

I'm still not used to the fact that my ChE courses are at 10:00 and not 08:00 yet, but it means that instead of my friends and I going out for bagels afterwards, we go out for lunch.  Which is a lot of fun.

The only thing I don't particularly like is the ChE 1530 (BioChem) lecture that spans Tuesday nights.  It causes me to miss the last half-hour of choir, miss all of band, and risk missing my meeting for ΜΚΥ in the event that band should let out earlier than normal, which I'm sure will happen on at least one Tuesday between now and November.

Fall break is a bit of a complicated thing, too.  Because we miss a Monday for Labor Day; and we miss a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for Thanksgiving Recess; it makes sense to miss a Tuesday for any Fall Break we might have.

But you can't just call off a random Tuesday, so we're going to call off Monday and then make up the Monday classes on Tuesday in lieu of the Tuesday classes, effectively canceling the Tuesday classes even though we have Monday off.  I am envisioning mass chaos on those days.

All in all, I think that this can and will be a good term.  I'm doing well on forming good habits, although it hasn't even been a week yet, so we'll see how everything holds up once it comes time for midterm exams.

Random tangent: Pitt's Bonfire & Pep Rally is tonight at 20:30; I will be playing there.  And apparently, my grandfather won tickets to tonight's Steelers preseason game and is taking my father.  So that's exciting.

Waiting for College

Granted, it's an experience I've already had for two whole years. But I still can't wait to go back.

But for now, here I am, sitting at my computer in the last half-hour of a month which has, all things considered, been quite good to me. I suppose having neglected this blog for the entirety of June, it would be prudent to write something here before we say goodbye to July. In fact, I've thought this for several days now and have kept putting it off.

So now, I will force myself to try.

Because of the extended hiatus, I'll skip over a lot of the things that my recent posts have set me up to write about, as they're not really at the front of my mind right now. Rather, I'll start with the week I recently spent at Camp Lambec counseling campers at Music Camp from 12 to 19 July.

It may seem odd that I'm starting with camp on my blog, especially because I never have the words to describe my experiences there. It was simply amazing, as always. To think that there is a place so beautiful, peaceful, and full of God's love... it's been quite reassuring throughout the tougher times of my life.

Since words seem to fall short, I'll share what I can through the photographs I took. It is simply breathtaking to hear so many voices singing praises to God and to see so many people doing His work and learning about His Word.

As I've done for the last several years, I plan to manage the camp newsletter this year, periodically reminding the campers that though they were at a spiritual high at camp, God is with them even in the deepest of spiritual valleys.

The rest of my spare time has been easily filled up with projects for pittband.com and Mu Kappa Upsilon. I'm somewhat confident I can tie up all the little loose ends by the time I have to leave.

Which is Thursday 14 August, by the way, just two weeks away. It's kind of scary that I'll be entering my junior year.

My sincerest apologies for not being too comprehensive or comprehensible in this post. I just wanted to get something out there to let my readers know I still care.

June

Apparently, June was rather uninteresting, at least as far as blog fodder goes. See my post of 31 July 2008.