The Political Machine

***Protip - I have opinions. Deal with it.***


As a student, I like to think I have a voice in how my college is run. We have a student government here at UAF called ASUAF, or the Associated Students of the Univeristy of Alaska Fairbanks, and they are here to be the voice of the students when it comes to campus matters.


As stated in Article I of the ASUAF constitution, they are here "To provide an official and representative student organization with powers to receive complaints, investigate student problems, and participate in decisions involving the student body." This to me means that ASUAF is here to take student concerns and hopefully be instrumental in helping settle those concerns in the most efficient way possible. 


Needless to say, from what I can tell, that doesn't happen under the current administration. This is where my problem lies.


So this last week we had "elections" for ASUAF President, Vice-President, and Senate members and the chance to vote on ballot measures for the upcoming year. Now, notice that I put elections in quotation marks. Why? Because this election was a joke. It was nothing more than a joke, a sham, a waste of everyone's time. I felt embarrassed to even be a part of that process. Every incumbent position (President, Vice-President, and Senate seats B, E, F, and H) were unopposed. That's right, there was no voting really. I was pigeon-holed into one decision for every position on the ballot.


That is unacceptable. I wasn't particularly happy with ASUAF's contributions this year under the administration of Freitag and Ball, so even the option of another candidate would have been a nice bit. However, that didn't happen. Instead UAF has the same officers as last year (with a few new Senate members). How can we feel as if we have adequate representation as students if we have no choice in who's elected? I mean, there are write-in options, but in reality those are just for those people who have nothing better to say in terms of a vote.


But lets put those problems aside for a second and look at an even larger problem with the ballot. So ASUAF ballots have 3 main purposes. They have officer elections, ballot measures, and survey questions. I've already established the officer elections as a complete joke, so lets look at their second purpose. Ballot measures are supposed to be the student voice making a choice for their school on a matter that the student government has deemed to be important for the student body. This election had only one. Just one. And what was this measure you may ask? It was a measure to determine whether there should be 14 or 20 senate seats within ASUAF. Now how does that really affect the issues that plague students here at UAF? 


The answer: it doesn't.


Just another reason to show why this election was a joke.... Maybe one day it will be better.


Here's a link to the ASUAF constitution
http://asuaf.org/constitution


And here's the election results
http://asuaf.org/sites/default/files/Unofficial%20Results.pdf


And an editorial in the campus newspaper speaking about the same thing
http://www.uafsunstar.com/archives/13900

Securing the System

I've really started to enjoy my System Security and Administration class. I'm actually learning a thing or two about Linux operating systems. That and I'm also getting some hands on experience in a class that actually has something to do with my future career plans. Too many classes require me to just sit in a room and listen to a professor speak at us about whatever subject the course is on. But this class, its a whole new type of class.

Since its a Tuesday/Thursday class its even separated quite nicely. One day is in the lower lab working on concepts/homework and the other day is spent in the upper Linux lab applying what we're learning in class on Tuesdays. They actually let me do things with what I'm learning! For instance, right now I'm writing a program using the fork() function call that creates a denial-of-service attack by exhausting a computer's resources. Then I'll take that and upload it to one of my virtual machines that I'm running and see it take its course and figure out how to monitor it using some of the other commands that my instructor provided us with.

How cool is that?

Simplicity

So classes are going pretty well, but that's not the inspiration for this post today.

No, today it comes from Wind Symphony. I've been doing quite a bit of work with music in the last 3 or 4 months and I'm really happy that its starting to pay off. For one, I've been recreating some Zelda music to play in a horn quartet and I have 3 of the pieces done that I want to have for a horn medley. I hope to have songs like:

-Ocean Theme (Windwaker)
-Zelda's Awakening (Windwaker)
-Ballad of the Goddess (Skyward Sword)
-Departure (Windwaker)
-Windmill Hut (Ocarina of Time)
-Midna's Theme (Twilight Princess)
-Temple of Time (Ocarina of Time)
-Zelda II song (Zelda II)

And include them all together into a horn quartet medley to be performed towards the end of the semester. Hopefully I can get it done... But its a huge undertaking.

Also, towards the end of last semester I approached our director with an offering of music to play. As the nerd I am (if you couldn't tell from above) I asked if she would take a look at Fountain of Dreams from the Kirby series. The reply was that it was too simple for our ensemble to play, but that another song may be able to fit the part. Today I received an email with a site full of music and a question about One Winged Angel (Final Fantasy VII) by Nobuo Uematsu.

That's a win. An awesome win.

Now to get that done!

Running towards the sun

So I'm back again after a long week and a half. Finals have been conquered, homework has been finished, and work for my building has been completed. That means semester number 1 of my Sophomore year has been completed! It's a really good feeling.

As an interesting fact, I'm writing this post in an email while flying towards Chicago, IL at what should be 4:30am if I were in Alaska, but these people claim that it's 7:30am. I call bullshit because right now I can see the sun and if Alaska has taught me anything, it's that seeing the sun is a rare occurrence.

Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit... But you get my point. It's WEIRD. I mean, for the last couple weeks of my life the sun has been SETTING at about 2pm. Now there's full length days again.

Why Chicago? Well it's just a hop, skip, and a jump from Cleveland, OH which is where I'm off to so I can spend Xmas with my family who moved this past summer. I haven't really seen them since then, so it will be nice to see everyone again.

As for the past week, it's been nuts. Finals were a pain in the butt, yet I seem to have pulled it off and done pretty well. I even managed to get an A- on my music jury! After finals I had about 36 hours to myself (which I used in the best way possible) and then us RAs had to buckle down and work our hands to the bone. Cleaning an entire residence hall is quite the task... But us Skarland RAs managed to pull it off in a timely fashion!

Me? Well I'm doing just dandy. I'm happy that the stress of finals is now off of my shoulders. Its about time I had a legitimate break. Plus I've been hanging out with this fantastic girl lately, so that's also pretty awesome.

Life's pretty grand right now. I just wish that in-flight cookies didn't suck...

Delaying the Inevitable

Thinking is a scary thing. Especially for me.... At 3am... Because around that time, all the same thoughts float around in my head (kinda like "the voices" but without all the psychological implications) and give me all these terrible ideas. Those who know me well know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I promise they aren't actually bad things though. Just... Well.... Dorky, shy, ridiculous things. And when I say "terrible ideas" it really just means that if I want to keep some of my dignity when it comes to social interactions, I shouldn't do them.

So here's a bunch of stuff on my mind that will keep me occupied until I'm done writing this post!

This week was a really disappointing week for intramurals... Or I guess I should say that Wednesday was the disappointing day for intramurals. We had our soccer championship game and lost 1-0 in overtime. It wasn't just that, but it shouldn't have ended that way. A fluke goal that should have been stopped, should have been marked, should have been SOMETHING. But it wasn't and we lost. Including that game though, we only had 3 losses throughout the entire season so its not all bad. Still sad though... We worked so hard for that game just to have it slip through our fingers... But next semester Team Zissou will be ready to go and be fully healed for another awesome season!

Broomball ended similarly. Tuesday we won our first round of playoffs, but on Wednesday the other team was just better than us. Plain and simple. So, while that's disappointing, it was to be expected so it wasn't that bad I guess. But we still lost...

I really hate juries. My music jury is now in about 5 days and its FREAKING ME OUT. I've probably explained this before (in a previous post), but for those who are new to my blog and my music life: a music jury is where I select 3 pieces of music (one memorized, one etude, and one classical solo with piano accompaniment) and I go out in the big Davis Concert Hall and perform those pieces for 5-6 studio heads from the music department. Usually its the percussion, trumpet, low brass, horn, and single reed professors that I play in front of. Also, my ENTIRE grade for my private lessons is based on my performance at this one jury, so if I mess it up, there goes my grade down the toilet.

I miss Elika. She's all the way off in Florence, Italy and I still Skype her often, but I can't have midnight ramen time if she isn't here! Plus Denali is missing her hip attachment (which can't be healthy) and everyone around campus is missing one of our favorite people.

The UAF Wind Symphony had a concert yesterday too. I really like playing the horn. Its a magnificent instrument and so few people play it. Now that I look back on it, I think its kind of crazy that I only started playing it last year. Sure I had played trumpet for 8 years beforehand, but horn is a whole new beast and I'm really glad that I took on the challenge and now I have basically the greatest section a musician could ask for. I even had a small solo in this concert!

Our lovely horn section: Amber, me, Jeremiah, and Theresa

Christmas presents are starting to be delivered to people I know as well! So far everyone seems to be happy with what I've picked for them and I even had one person tell me afterwards "You know how to make a person smile!" So I feel very happy with the choices I have made. :D

Yesterday I almost hit a sign with my car too. I slid off the road and went into some deep snow with my right tires and I managed to pull out of it before I hit the speed limit sign. This has kind of made me not want to drive around when its snowing anymore.... But chances are that I'll end up having to go somewhere and then I'll drive again. For the most part though, I've been a safe driver! Take that parents!

Last, but not least, for tonight is an accomplishment of mine. Sure its nerdy, but I have successfully transcribed the Ocean theme from Legend of Zelda: Windwaker for a horn quartet and we are going to start playing it soon so that we can hopefully perform it in a Music at 1 next semester! That would be AWESOME. Plus the program could say "Ocean - Koji Kondo - arr. Quinn Verfaillie" and I would feel all special and stuff.

Fun fact: this didn't keep my attention away from what it meant to for very long....

Oh well... At least its a happy thought :D

"Keep your eye on the prize because if you decide to let your gaze stray, it may not be there when you look back."

Shooting for the moon

So last night I had our first playoff game for Team Zissou (my intramural soccer team) and we won! Sure we had to make it through 2 halves, a 5 minute "golden goal" overtime, and then a shootout, but we did it! So we were excited. Plus, we beat the returning champions from last quarter so that's a pretty sweet bonus to our win.

Every win comes at a price though. I love soccer, and its a physical sport, but injuries are unavoidable. Especially for us defenders ("Q" and I have got that on lock). I came out of last night's game with a fat lip, bruised face (due to a totally illegal punch), and a nice deep muscle bruise in my calf. Q survived with a kicked-in ankle and a couple lovely bruise blobs on her legs.

And I'm glad our team is pretty good. We have good teamwork, communication (for the most part), and just skill in general. Sure we may mess up every once in a while, but who doesn't? The best part is: we all have fun with it.

But now with injuries in tow, we have another game tonight at 11:45 and we are READY TO ROCK.

Break? What break? I didn't see any break!

Thanksgiving is one of those times to sit back, relax, and take some time off with the family. Unless you're me and you're an RA and most everyone else wants to leave for Thanksgiving. In that case, you work, work, and work some more. I think I'm having over 30 hours put on my paycheck this week (when we normally only get 16 per week) because of all the extra holiday hours and time that I've put in. That's insane!

Plus I have to go do a key audit at some point... But I can do that later. I'm feeling a bit lazy. Other than work, I've spent all of my time doing homework or playing video games. When you're tied down to a building that's about the best you can do. I did manage to go to Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart for Black Friday though and shop a little bit for presents and for fun. Matt and Amber are terrible people for making me buy those things... Terrible, terrible people... But oh well. What's done is done.

But now I can start Christmas shopping for people! I love shopping for presents. Not so much the spending money part, but mostly the challenge of picking something unique for each individual that suits them best.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

I take a lot of pride in the gifts I get for people. They don't always have to be expensive, but I'd like to think that I do a pretty good job of picking out things that people would like and that reflect my relationship with them. It's a lot of fun! Plus I also get to go window shopping (online of course) at the same time which is fun.

Though I don't feel all that materialistic. There are very few *things* I really want in life. Most of the time I just like gifts with care. Even if it's just a card that someone wrote something special in; that's my favorite kind of gift in the world. Because things are just that to me: things. Care is something you can only get with something handmade or with a lot of thought put in to them. Not that I mind getting things, but it's not my primary 'want' for Christmas.

So now for shopping! :D

And working more....

I spy with my little eye....

It's been a little while since I last posted anything on here... I guess I've just been busy. Most of that time has probably been sucked into these new projects I have for CS and practice time for my music jury (which is about 3 weeks away....) and some of it has obviously been eaten by all the new video games that I bought in Game Season 2011. They are FANTASTIC.

So the games came out in this order:
1. Sonic Generations (11/1)
2. Modern Warfare 3 (11/8)
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (11/11)
4. Assassin's Creed: Revelations (11/15)

And I must say, I'm really sad that Sonic didn't get the spotlight that he deserved. The re-imagining of older stages and music along side of glitch-less gameplay made for a very happy and nostalgic Quinn when playing that game. I thought it was a fantastic addition to the Sonic franchise, and it was a step in the right direction in terms of game design. Because let's face it, the last 5 years of Sonic games have been complete crap (other than Sonic Colors).

But all that nostalgia couldn't stand up to the overwhelming fanbase of the Modern Warfare series and Skyrim.... Which is sad.... Not to say that they aren't excellent series, but I do think that the little blue hedgehog should have had his time in the spotlight.

As for the college aspect of things, my jury absolutely frightens me. Those of you who saw me last year on the two days before juries know exactly how I feel about them.... I basically turn in to a huge stress ball and do nothing until they're over. My mock jury yesterday didn't go so hot either, which means MOAR STRESS for me. If my lips spontaneously explode at the end of the semester, that's why.

Pie Your RA is tonight too from 8 - 9:30 in the Hess! From what I can tell, I'll be pied quite a bit.... SO BRING IT ON FRESHMEN! Cheeto Face (during RA training) was only the beginning of my whipped cream shenanigans apparently, which I don't mind. This just means some unexpected dry bystander is going to be chased down like a fleeing gazelle for a sticky sugar hug.

This is what happened last time whipped cream and I had an epic battle.

 Life is good.

Layers of Separation

It seems like I've been socially stunted for the past little bit recently. Everyone just seems to be so eaten by their significant others. New relationships have been budding just about everywhere I look recently. Heck, I even tried to be in one (notice the word "tried" and then we'll have enough on that subject). But it starts to wear on me... Because in that whole "budding" phase of dating everyone changes who they are and what they do to suit their significant other. It almost seems like I never see them anymore. Think of them like tumors (in the nicest way possible): it requires skilled surgery to detach them from each other.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that my friends are finding the people for them. I really am! Having that special someone is truly a great feeling and I'm glad they get to experience it. In all honesty though, I may be a bit jealous. Not just for the having that someone, but for the time. People are slowly eaten by their relationships/infatuations. I know last year it even happened to me. But this year its different with the sheer VOLUME of relationships. Even by just looking at my dorm of 6 RAs, 4 of them are dating. That means that 2/3 of our staff is dating someone... That's a lot...

As for my friends over in Moore, it's the same situation but to an even worse degree. I don't see them on a day-to-day basis because they live across the way. I've even lost a "friend" from it (but in that situation, I'm pretty sure that the word "friend" was beaten in a back alley and left for dead in a ditch).

Remember, no Russian.

Anyways, back to what I was saying. I don't really get the opportunity to see them very often. I invite, and invite, and invite... But to no avail... And it really does get to me. It's like I'm missing out on my friends because they've been completely absorbed. It's even starting to spread to some of my friends who aren't in a relationship, but have that one close "significant other" but they aren't dating for a reason or two.

Truthfully, it makes me feel a little left out. But, I guess it will make me find a new active friend group. Or just become a video game hermit in my room... I really don't want to sink that low again. Or maybe I'll get lucky and find my own significant other. Everyone has a chance to, even if my success rate with asking girls out is 5% right now :P

I guess we'll see how it goes.

Like laps on a track

So my birthday was this past Monday. I'm now a legitimate 19 year old. What new comes with being 19? I could smoke! But I won't because that's gross. But, in reality, I circled the sun again, which in a cosmic sense is pretty cool. Haven't you wondered why we gauge our life length based on how many times we orbit a star? Its pretty fascinating.

And my birthday went alright. During holidays/birthdays I never feel all that materialistic, so I base it on how much fun I had with friends and all the good wishes from family and friends. I loved the fact that, even though it was freaking early (for me 8:00am is far too early), my Dad of all people was the first person to call and wish me a happy birthday. He hates talking on the phone, so the fact that he called me was pretty awesome. However, the first person to wish me a happy birthday was Valerie at something close to 12:01am. In terms of gifts I loved the cards I got! A card from my paternal grandmother, a hand made card and a written letter folded into a paper crane from Valerie, and then a loving card from the loving staff here in Skarland hall (plus Derick and Bucky). Denali even made me an origami elephant out of a dollar bill :D

But on the flip side some of my "friends" decided to completely ignore me when I tried to talk to them. That's classy. My maternal grandmother even thought I was turning 20. That's a fail. Things like those do tend to put a damper on my spirits...

However, I did end the day by watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World with Valerie. That movie is my FAVORITE. EVER.

And then Freak Week started. I call it "Hell Week."

Tuesday I found out that I'll be working extra hours on Saturday night during the dance, which means I can't go to the dance anymore (SHOCKING! I was actually going to go to a dance!). So that ought to be interesting. Wednesday was nonstop craziness as I went from classes, to labs, to work (this went from 9:15am to 11:15pm with almost no break). Thursday I was on duty again but the day wasn't terribly stressful. Friday (today) had the class load and then Zombie Survival Training at night which went alright. Tomorrow I can hopefully rest during the day so I can effectively work until 4am Sunday... Woo.

Then I have Sunday and a new week starts all over again before I can get a legitimate break. I could really use one right now.

I'm also on a new soccer team and I'll be joining a recreational league broomball team too come this week. It's rather exciting! I love all the sports that I get to do here at UAF. Hopefully that can keep me exercising throughout the week now.

Socially things are going alright for me too. Sure I'm dropping some dead weight, but "c'est la vie." I've even made a bunch of new friends here, so I really enjoy the time I get with all my wonderful friends :)

That basically sums up the last week of my life... Hooray for recaps!

The Weirdest Things

I don't think its because I came to college, but I do some really weird things. Like yesterday for instance. Somebody threw out my toothbrush and toothpaste when I accidentally left it in the bathroom and I was really disappointed and I felt kinda gross because I wanted to brush my teeth, so I went to the Campus Cache (for those of you who don't know its like a super-overpriced convenience store located in the bottom of my building complex) to buy a toothbrush and some toothpaste. Only problem was that they didn't sell toothbrushes.... So in all my infinite wisdom, I chose to brush my teeth with a clean sock that happened to have toothpaste smeared on it.

Weird? Yes.

Effective? Also yes.

I bought a video game that has the selling point of "YOU WILL DIE AND YOU WILL DIE A LOT" too. Because a frustrating challenge is something that piqued my curiosity. That and I work a lot and the easiest thing to do while working is playing video games. Yes, my job allows me to hold a phone next to me and play video games so long as I can readily assist residents if I need to. I'm awesome.

Walking around in Yoshi slippers has also become a common occurrence for me because they are amazing! I have Yoshis on my feet! That and I'm just nerdy enough to be able to pull that off without people looking at me like I escaped from a mental institution.

Plus, as an added bonus to the random score, I'm going to be playing an important part in this year's Zombie Survival Training. Because that just sounds freaking awesome and last year it was a blast.

So I think that's it for the random escapades of Quinn at the moment... But do not fret! I can guarantee with 100% certainty that there will be more to come!

This is my Dominion

So today a new game mode came out in League of Legends called "Dominion." To put it bluntly, it is freaking awesome. Plus it has a few new features that I really like about it, like the fact that each game doesn't necessarily have to take anywhere near an hour. The longest game of it that I've played so far has been 18 minutes and the shortest has been 8. That's NOTHING compared to the normal Draft/Blind pick modes available in the regular game.

Also, everything is always happening ALL OF THE TIME. It isn't so much of a waiting game as it is an "always in combat" game type.

I love it. Now to go bury myself in it for hours on end and see how that turns out.

In my personal life, things are doing okay. Not great, not terrible, just a mediocre. Sure I have a frustration every once in a while, but I think I'm done trying to bottle things up. If I have a problem, I'll address it nicely and swiftly so that there isn't any confusion on where I stand.

But classes are going well (for the most part), my job is awesome, my friends are still fun to hang around, my newly met friends are hilarious, and I can now wear the MEB shirt and be alright.

And this is my Dominion. I am what I am in the place I want to be.

And so it begins...

I survived my first full week of classes! Boy oh boy there has been a lot going on as well. Tonight I'm here in the Skarland Hall Office being the RA on duty and tonight will probably put my skills to the test if all goes how I've been told it will go. For tonight is also the Toga Dance...

I really dislike dances. I always have, and probably always will. They're loud, gross, and last FAR too long in to the night for my personal preferences. I think I only went to one dance last year and that was for the Great Nerk because there was a special lady who asked me to go. This year I don't have that excuse. So I opted to let my RA friends have their fun at the dance.

Welcome to a very long night.

In a perfect world, I won't have to deal with anything tonight, but I know that is probably hoping for far too much from a Freshman hall... But I'll stay optimistic until the end! The office is pretty quiet for now though, so I'm hoping things will stay this way. Please stay this way? Please?

On a positive note I think I've made it through the bulk of my emotional trauma! Hooray for perseverance! So I guess here I'd like to make a quick yet powerful thank you to those who helped me out these past few weeks especially and to those who helped me over the summer. You know who you are.

This year my classes should be pretty good as well. Wind Symphony is... Wind Symphony. Basic Ear Training will take some getting used to (because singing isn't exactly my strong suit). Basic Music Theory will actually take work, but I know I can make it through. Its just a bit foreign to me at the moment... Assembly is hilarious with Dr. Lawlor. CS 201 is a joke.

And I'm apparently a tenor singer!

So I heard you like training....

So here I am at UAF with (GASP) free time! Now what in the world is that?

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently in training to be a Resident Assistant (RA) up here at UAF and I'll have my own batch of freshmen on the 3rd floor of Skarland Hall. I have been since last Wednesday and if I didn't know that fact I would have NO way of knowing how much time has really passed... It's been very long. Most days, including the work I have to do for my floor, last from 7:30am when I wake up to 11pm when I finally stop working on door decs and other assorted tasks.

That's a LONG time! It isn't necessarily hard though, most of it is just listening to presentations and then taking some tests. Like today, for example, I took my RA final exam and my Desk Attendant final exam and yesterday I took my policy final exam. Sure the presentations aren't the most interesting things in the world, but at least I'm learning some things? I think? Anyways... My door decs are going to be pretty amazing, I love my staff, and actually getting to do this RA stuff is pretty interesting.

I feel like I fit well in this Residence Life community.

Also, here are a few of the funnier pieces of information that I've learned while in training:

-Res Life does not like children or dirty people.
-A squirrel running around inside is WAY more interesting than Equal Opportunity training
-Iris and Amber should never be allowed to fight EVER.
-Running around drenched in whipped cream is fun
-Driving a UAF van really isn't that difficult.
-Ergonomics are EVERYWHERE (and a part of 5 different safety tests we had to take) GAH!
-Fire hoses are fun
-Crystal meth looks really interesting....
-Playing in vomit is frowned upon by staff
-I'm looking forward to actually having a life

And that about sums up my life since arriving at college. Training, more training, MOAR TRAINING, sleep, repeat.

Yup. Delicious sugary Quinn was delicious.

Success!

So I am super stoked to find out that I can actually update my blog from my iPhone (now that my computer is out of commission)! Its rather exciting. Anywho, my to do list is now almost complete before I leave for Homer on Wednesday morning The only thing that inreally have left to do is finish this mysterious project before I leave. I'm rather annoyed with myself though because I should have had it finished a LONG time ago... But I'm a procrastinator so I get to deal.

I'll finish it, even if I have to do the finishing touches on the ferry, I WILL FINISH IT DANG IT! And all in all, I'm really glad to be leaving Valdez. It was mice working here, but I am totally ready to get back to where I belong.

And now I'm going to stop procrastinating and go back to my project...

The more you sleep, the less you wait...

My summer (for the most part) is fairly dull. Especially now that I rolled my ankle, its hard to find things to do with my time... I work during the week on a regular schedule (8:30 - 5:30 Monday thru Friday), I come home and play video games in the afternoon, I skype Iris and others before I go to bed, and then I sleep.

Woo. And don't get me wrong, I do like what I do at work so that's usually somewhat entertaining, but for the most part I spend my time longing for school to start back up. This next year is going to be amazing for me. I get to be an RA in Skarland, I'll be able to actually see Iris and everyone else on a daily basis, I won't be hundreds of miles away from my friends, I won't have to buy my own food, I'll have a routine and a set place to stay for more than 3 weeks at a time. It will be like heaven on earth. But for now I just continue to skype and text as much as I can.

I also have 2 trips planned for my summer which I'm SO EXCITED FOR but Valdez tries really hard to mellow me out. Because video games can only keep me entertained for so long... I like hanging out with people more than I like playing video games (by a long shot) and so they get tiring after a while... But they suck up time I guess.

So sleeping is the best form of time travel.

And this is what's in my head at the moment.

Reflections and Predictions

So here I am coming back to the blog (after a stint of laziness) and going back over college.

College is awesome. I went to the University of Alaska Fairbanks having no idea if it was going to be good at all and with a somewhat open, but somewhat closed mind about how things were going to be. It had been my dream to go to UW - Seattle, but there I was in the frigid North. I am happy to say that my first year at UAF was AWESOME! There were fun things, there were good classes, I made some amazing new friends, and I even came out of it with a Resident Assistant position for the next year!

Look out incoming freshmen... I'll be on the 3rd floor of Skarland for any guys out there who are coming up to UAF.

It even ended well. I had a cumulative 2.95 GPA (so not terrible), I stayed in shape (and possibly even lost weight), I enjoyed my time there, and I have the most fantastic girlfriend. Pretty good stuff right?

But now here I am in Valdez again for the summer... My family moves out on June 8th so I'll be house-sitting for most of the summer and possibly just staying with someone for the last couple weeks of July/first week of August. I have the same job I had last summer (which I love). I'll be in the school district working for IT. Plus the staff there always makes me laugh and it keeps me busy for the summer so I don't go INSANE due to boredom. I mean I've already completed 10 video games from start to finish in the 10 days that I've been here. They were:

-Luigi's Mansion
-Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
-Super Mario Sunshine
-007 Nightfire
-Pikmin
-Ty the Tasmaninan Tiger 2
-Starcraft II
-Oregon Trail
-Lego: Alpha Team
-Pikmin 2

And I have another couple in the works. Like Animal Crossing! Although that won't be done for quite some time.... As my friend Skyler put it, "Quinn. Animal Crossing is not a side project. Not unless you'd also count the pyramids and the Great Wall of China as side projects.
Actually, scratch that. AC prolly takes up even MORE time. =P"

I would say that is fairly accurate...

And for the future part of the summer, I know Iris might be coming to Valdez in a couple weeks or so to come see my Dad's Change of Command ceremony :D Now THAT is an exciting prospect! :D And at the end of the summer I'll be taking the ferry to Homer to go visit peoples and then eventually ride back up to UAF with Iris in time for RA training. Plus work.


I'm sure I'll post more throughout the summer, so ciao for now!

Finals...

Its finals week.... And I have 4 (technically 5) final things to deal with. Lessons, Physics, CS, CS Final Project, and Comm.

Its all rather stressful... And my two most stressful finals were both put on Monday which definitely puts a damper on the fun for the day. Physics kicked my butt this morning, but luckily it went a little better than I was initially thinking that I would do. So I think I'll pass the class with a C.

Tonight at 6:30 I have my music Jury. It's my entire grade for lessons... and I go out before 5 of the important Music Dept. staff and play a memorized piece, an etude, and for my solo I'm playing Scherzo Concertante by Vaclav Nelhybel. ITS FREAKING STRESSFUL. The pieces are hard and the counting is absolutely everywhere.... So I'm kind of stressing out. Sure everyone tells me I'll be fine and a part of me believes them, but it still manages to be stressful and completely nerve-racking.

Tomorrow is my CS final and my Comm final, which I'm really not all that afraid of.

Then packing my life away into a few totes and a duffel bag so I can leave campus. Which is both a good a bad thing. There are so many things about college that I'm going to miss, but my school apathy has been pretty strong as of late....

Woo finals....

Yeah.... I'm just that kid.

I am a dork, I am messy, I am (somewhat) responsible, I am goofy, I am an open book, and I manage to survive while just being me.

With that being said, I failed my room's health and safety inspection yesterday.... Whoops. Apparently Derick wasn't thrilled with the condition of my floor. I HATE rooms that are "too clean." I think its probably from moving so often with our houses having to be in perfect condition while we were selling them, but I now have this need to keep things in disarray. I'll clean it up before 4 so that I don't get fined though... Because that would suck.

I also beat Portal 2 yesterday (instead of doing physics). THE END IS SO AMAZING. And the music for it is now stuck in my head (not the credits song mind you). Symphony go!

And I'm playing through Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door again in Iris's room! This makes me the best kinds of happy. Like you wouldn't believe. That game is amazing.

There is also hair on my face. As in, a significant amount and I have yet to shave it.... Which surprises me.... A lot.

I'm also featured in the newest "Mystery Desserts" episode which my friend Elika puts on about different sketchy desserts at the Tilly. You can check it out here.

And so now here I am just being me, being happy, and loving life just how it is (minus a nickname at the moment...). Its a good time to be me for me :)

Competition

I am a competitor.

It just happens to be part of who I am. I've played team sports forever (since I was 3 years old) and I don't just play: I play to win. Sure just playing to have fun happens every once in a while, but in reality it starts to wear on me if everyone is just off doing their thing and we can't succeed. Like in high school gym classes. We would go play floor hockey and as a hockey player I would know what I was doing, but my team wouldn't. This doesn't mean that the sport itself wasn't any fun, but I have a need to win. I drive for it. I strive for it. I work at it. But one man does not a team make. In floor hockey there are 6 players and I am but one of them working in a team setting.

I need a team.

Not only that, but I need a competitive team. A team that will always try to work as a cohesive unit and understand what it is that makes a team. Not everyone can be right. Not everyone can know what's best. We also need a coach. Someone who has a sense of respect from the team in his/her knowledge of the sport. Someone who isn't a player I think.

I think I'll go crazy if I can't have a legitimately competitive team because I hate being stomped in every team sport here at UAF (except soccer).

It sucks.