Righteous Indignation

So I realized (after my mom had called me) that I totally forgot to actually post the last blog I wrote.... But now that I look back on it, I realize that it still pertains to now so I'll just summarize it here as well.

Recently I've had a huge burst of righteous indignation. For those who haven't heard me use that term before, its a trait I have that I'm told comes from my mother. Not that I mind it though. When I see something that I perceive as being unacceptable happens to me (or one of my friends) I tend to fight for that side and harbor very strong opinions on the matter. Plus, I really hate keeping my opinions quiet. Sometimes its gets me into trouble, but more often than not it makes things easy because you'll always know what I'm thinking.

There's also that whole "I go do something about it until I feel I've done what I can to help" part of it. However, rather than becoming angry and tactless I tend to become more eloquent in my speaking and drive right towards the heart of the problem when dealing with these types of situations. People are much likelier to hear you out if you have well developed ideas and concerns while speaking than if you come in with a set of demands. So I usually go in with a plan and knowing exactly what I want done in order to rectify the problem.

Two problems have currently caught my attention: the Honors Program and UAF Intramurals.

(Stop reading here if you don't want to hear my opinions).

Last week I had a meeting with Dr. Gary Larsen, the current Honors Program Director. Why? Because, in my opinion, the Honors Program took a turn for the worst this year. They chose to make some decisions that benefited the program and some that harmed it. I really like the fact that there are a wider variety of classes that are offered for Honors students now, that more students are being involved in the program, and the fact that, by fiscal means, the program is trying to give more opportunities to students. But these things came at a steep price that I'm not willing to pay. I gave this as one of my opening arguments: "I joined the Honors Program here at UAF to feel like an individual in a group of like-minded individuals within an ocean of students. Now I feel as if I'm a student in a sea of students within an ocean of students." Basically, its lost the individualism that I had experienced in my first year of being in the program. I used to be able to walk into the Honors House and have the staff know who I was, what I was like, what I did, and some facts about me. Now I walk in and nobody knows me. When I went to schedule my meeting with Dr. Larsen I had to introduce myself for the sixth time. That's unheard of. There has also been a flood of students, but not for the reasons which I felt the Honors program embodied. It was once a place for those students who did the research to find out how to enrich their learning. While the applications were open to anyone (assuming you met the criteria for entrance) they also required you to find out what the program was about. Now, due to some unsightly advertisements, the quality versus quantity debate began. I'll never say that these kids are bad students, but I do think that a fair number of them came in for the designation rather than the learning experience. The other thing that REALLY bugs me about the program is how fiscally oriented they are. Its all about the money no matter what. About half of the emails I receive on the listserv are about ways to earn the program money. My question: do you really need that much money? The one event that pushed me over the edge though was the sponsored "party" to eat pizza and send letters to the legislation for more money. I mean, its one thing to ask for the money as a program, but its a whole new issue once you have the students doing it as well. I do believe that if you receive a gift, you should thank whoever gave it to you, but asking for more immediately afterwards seems ridiculous. So I had a chat with him and it seemed to go well.

As for the intramurals, I feel as if my problem with it is a bit more pressing. It seems to me as if in every sport there's always "that team." What I mean to say is, there's always one team which has the bad sports or the violent students. This year there are a couple teams in particular which have caught my attention. One is in my soccer league this season (and last season) even though we switched the days we were playing. They're notoriously dirty players and it creates this huge feeling of animosity before the game even starts. Yet the worst part is the senselessly violent style of play. The best example of this that I have happened last semester. Their dirtiest player was coming down the side of the court at full speed with the ball before it took a quick skip ahead of him. Our captain (right defense) stepped up on it in order to knock it out as the striker powered up for a shot. She knocked it away, yet this striker continued his motion even though there was ample time to stop. I've watched his footwork. I know he has control, but he still followed through with a strong kick right into her ankle. This put her in a brace for two weeks with trouble walking for the next couple days. This isn't the only example of this team being brutal either, its just one of the worst I could think of offhand. The best part of this team though is their sportsmanship. The two dirtiest players refuse to even acknowledge our team after the game during the post-game handshake. Rather than being sportsmanlike and even walking through the line, they choose to walk off and leave the building. This the recreational league of soccer. Is that really necessary?

If you notice though, in this last bit I have referred to "that team" but I only have problems with two of the players. This brings me to my next point: it sheds a bad light on the decent players who are part of these teams. I know I'm a stronger defensive player with a strong team mentality so I definitely stick up for my team physically when it comes to a dirty game. Its a problem created by dirty players in high octane games and I know I'm part of it. Retaliation though hits harder than the initial problem though because of those good players who end up in the cross-hairs because of bad teammates. This hits EVERY team too. Most games have nice teams on both sides and there isn't a need/want for retaliation, but once you find that bad team everything goes to hell.

This is the primary problem I've observed in the Quidditch league this quarter. Last year Quidditch was introduced during the year and made its official debut during SpringFest 2011. Now, for Spring 2012, Quidditch was introduced as an intramural for people to play in a more public setting. Sure its mostly comprised of those students who helped with it last year, but its still a step in the direction of expanding its influence on campus. But again there's "that team," or more accurately "that one player," who is undermining the progress of the sport. I was invited to play on a team for Quidditch, but after seeing who was playing on one of the teams (and how said player acted during games) I turned the offer down. I prefer not to be severely injured during sports if I can help it. How do I know this if I don't play? I know this person pretty well, but more importantly I've seen the damage firsthand. Quidditch games are usually before my soccer games on Mondays, so I head down a bit early to watch. Every time I see "that team" though there's always violence. The worst I've seen was a deep cut on an eyelid. But seriously, deep cuts in a game with foam dodgeballs? I've even heard that there was almost a fight during one game with this team. Factors like that make players wary of playing. Why would you choose to play a sport in which you had increased chances of being physically abused? I know I wouldn't.

So sometime this week I have a meeting scheduled with the intramurals coordinator to hopefully iron out some of these issues before they become larger problems. Intramurals are meant to be fun not painful, so if I can find a way to make life better for me and my friends in our respective sports then I'll do it.

And there isn't a soul who can stop me. (Okay I promise my rant is over now)

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...

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!

Face-checking

I get a lot of really funny looks whenever I use the term "face-checking" in the midst of the general population. Most of my gaming friends know what I'm talking about, but I'll leave a little definition here so anyone who wants to can see what I mean.

So the term "face-checking" comes from the game League of Legends. In this game there is a rather large map that has 3 "lanes" of fighting with area in between and most of the action takes place in these lanes.

Since this is a 5v5 game, the game etiquette says that two characters go in the bottom/top lanes and one person from each team goes into the middle lane. With that being said, there are no restrictions to where you can actually go.

Don't worry, this is leading up to the definition.

Now in the "jungle" (the trees section of the map between lanes) and in the "river" as well as in the bottom and top lanes there are bushes. The interesting function of these bushes is that you basically become invisible within the bush. Nothing in the bush can be seen unless there is Line of Sight (LoS) in the bush for your team. This can be done with sight/vision wards, or by having an allied champion in the bush as well. However, if your team doesn't have any LoS inside of the bush, its a dark abyss with unknown occupants.

This is where face-checking comes in. Face-checking is the verb that basically means "running headlong into the unknown and hoping for the best." Because you could run into the bush and have a  grand ol' time just sitting in there by yourself, waiting to gank (kill using the element of surprise) the next opponent that happens to walk by. Or if luck seems to escape you, the entire enemy team could be sitting in that bush waiting for a kill and you just so happen to run right into all of them... Bushes are a dangerous place.

Now in world of the living, the term face-checking still exists but in a slightly different context. Instead of blindly running into a bush and hoping the enemy isn't there to kick the piss out of you, it exists in a situational sense. For example: face-checking a test would be going into it with barely any knowledge, but giving it your all anyways because there's no reason not to. Sure all the knowledge may not be there and the thought could be "I'll probably fail" but instead its approached from the standpoint of "LET'S DO THIS!!!"

But as of late after listening to myself it seems to relate more and more to relationships and drama between people. Face-checking a relationship would be more akin to the thought process of:

1. See pretty girl
2. Wonder who she is
3. Ask her on a date
4. ?????
5. PROFIT $$$

Well... Maybe not quite to that extreme, but I think it proves the point I'm trying to make. Just going at something knowing failure is a great probability, but its that little glimmer of hope for success that forces the hand and you go at it with the idea of nothing but success in your mind as you make your move.

Sure its a little ridiculous, but maybe this will stop some of the funny looks I get... I doubt it will stop the ones I get for doing the dance for The Locomotion next to the drinks in the Tilly though... Oh well.

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!

The Shiny Nomad

Okay... I guess the nomad isn't ACTUALLY shiny... but there are shiny things! I love shiny things, and by video game standards: If it's shiny, it's probably important.

So this summer I have been quite nomadic so I will adopt the descriptor of "Nomad." Not "Vagabond," or "Couch Surfer," or even "Bum." I'll just stick with nomad thank you. Because I have lived (and will continue to live) in a number of different places this summer. Lets see... To make things fair I'll only count unique places I've lived (as in, it doesn't count as two if I stayed at the same place twice).

So I've stayed with:
-My family
-The Heckathorns
-The Fletchers
-The Clubbs
-The Johnsons

And eventually I will end up back at UAF where I belong (after another stint with the Fletchers for a week.). Which will be incredibly nice... I really despise living out of a bag. Not that it's completely awful, but it definitely increases that feeling of "I don't really have a home." That, and all of my clothes are wrinkly and I'm getting really good at packing my car up with all of my stuff... I've now got it that I can fit all of my belongings in the trunk of my car with space to spare! But it does take it's toll. Of course I'm super appreciative of those who have given me a place to stay during the summer, but I really want to be back at my "home" and right now it's going to be UAF. Weirdly enough, I think UAF might end up being the single most "solid" place I've ever lived in my entire life (if I stay for 5 years). Before that, it was Williamsburg, VA for about four years. But for now I just continue to pack my life into a tote, a duffel, and my backpack. Only two more times to go! WOOT!

On a brighter (and shinier) note, I got an iPhone 4! IT'S EXCITING AND AWESOME. Also, it's shiny. I like shiny things. Basically it does everything I could ever need a portable device to do. Because I know that last year in the dorms, I was rarely ever in my room and it was always super annoying during the day that I would have to go all the way back to my room in order to check my email (or to the CS lab, but that's beside the point). Now I can surf the web, do my banking, check my email, and still call people all from one handy device! Plus, being the dork that I am, I really enjoy new technological marvels.

And since I know somebody is going to say "But Quinn! I heard you hated Apple!" I will turn around and say WRONG! I don't hate Apple. I definitely hate Macs, but not Apple itself. Because (in my opinion) Macs are for the computer illiterate that choose to have a computer that doesn't allow them to mess anything up because they CAN'T DO ANYTHING. Now they aren't bad computers either, I just hate them... And updating 200+ Apple Macbooks and Mac Minis was AWFUL. I deserve cookies for that much suffering...

This upcoming week I will be saying goodbye to my beautiful Asus G73jh as I am sending it down to California for repairs. I will miss my stealth bomber... But on Wednesday I head down to Homer! Wednesday morning that is... Stupid fail ferry times. I'm on the Aurora... It takes 5.75 hours to go the same distance as the Chenega which takes 2.75 hours. GAH.

Hopefully this Homer trip won't give my mother the ability to say "I told you so..." again. But I have faith! Because I'm an optimistic person and I see good in most things!

Also, this weekend is my one shot at a Gold ranking in the League of Legends Season One brackets so if you need to get a hold of me, I'm probably doing that... And owning face. Unlike Skyler. Who sucks. A lot. Derick might do alright though.... Lets all give a hurrah for TEAM NARWHALS!

UAF or BUST! (in 11 days :D)

Spirals

You know, if you really think about it, a spiral is nothing but a 3 dimensional circle (if you see it that way).

And that's how I feel at the moment. Its just one giant spiral of emotions. Its going in a direction, but its always the same circle of thoughts... And I do my best to change them, to ignore them, to fight them. But it feels like fighting a grease fire with water. I have the right idea, just the results aren't exactly what they should be.

That fire still burns just as hot as it did 5 minutes ago, but I'm running out of water.

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.

I see it's been a while since I was last on here.... Strange. Anyways, here's a recap on the last 3 weeks of my life.

-I went to Homer, it was pretty fun.
-Valdez is still absolutely no fun.
-I started house-sitting at a new place.
-Working soccer camp and my regular job at the same time is still a bad idea.
-Shampooing carpets in the middle of summer smells awful and makes everything twice as warm as it should be.
-Blah.

There we go. 3 weeks in a nutshell.

I'm also not sure exactly when I get to leave Valdez anymore... One of our major imaging servers (a Dell/Kace k-2100 if anyone cares to know) basically keeled over and died for no particular reason. FANTASTIC. So that means we hit a standstill and now our new virtual k-2100 isn't exactly doing what its supposed to and I may have to stay in Valdez for longer to help cover the losses. Woot. And so here I am just wishing it all away.

And then some of my energy is going into plan making... I have a problem, I make a plan. Usually lots of them and only half of them are even any good. Too bad I use all of them anyways.... So here's to that as well.

Life will be so much simpler and much more fun once I get to UAF... But in the meantime, I'm surviving.

P.S.
I got an awesome phone call from ELIKA! I was super stoked because she's off living in Coldfoot and took the time to call me :D

Please Wait - Experiencing Technical Difficulties

So I work IT for the school district here and I love most of it. Sure it's a job and it has its ups and downs, but all in all it is totally fun. I spend most days working through the Kbox (our imaging/software updating server) help desk tickets and doing computer repairs. Yeah, its my job to take apart little laptops, mess with the innards, and then put them back together. What's cooler than that???

 

And we have some massive projects for this summer. Like fixing up over 300 laptops (including repairs) for all of the students who are going to have them next year after a year of use by students. That ought to be good. Also, I think we are going to be moving most of the district to Windows 7 from Windows XP which will be AWESOME! I love Windows 7 :D

Also I move into my first house-sitting place tomorrow. It has a doggie! Which makes me laugh because its name is Denali and one of my best friends is named Denali and I'm just going to laugh the entire time about that because I am a mature teenager like that :P

Plus I have a fantastic visitor coming in 6 days, 17 hours, 1 minute, and 10 seconds (at the time of writing this). But who's counting really?

Also I'd like to say thank you to Elika for giving life to my love of countdown timers.

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!

Accident Prone

I seem to be really accident/injury prone... It's almost as if I have an injury quota of the day and it usually ends up being filled. In the last week I have had my head bashed into someone's head in soccer, my hand whacked during broomball, a narrow dodge on being punched in the junk, been kicked off of a bed, and frequently I have fallen and hit a desk or something when I try to sit on the floor.

Now I don't quite understand why this happens to me, but it happens quite often...... I think there should be a way to fix it damn it!

Also, tonight I have broomball..... Lets hope I don't become injured tonight.

24 Hours of Firsts

Last night was the first dance I ever attempted to dance to something other than a slow song.

Today was my first practicum (being a stage hand) at UAF.

I started my first speed run of Super Mario Sunshine today.

I created my first plan to murder Derick.

I played my first 3v3 as Olaf in League of Legends.

I repeated my first CS 202 homework assignment.

It is the first time in a long time that I have been as happy as I am right now.

Public Speaking... Right...

I despise my Comm 141X class with a passion. More than basketball, more than people who only use the elevator to go up or down one floor, and even more than I hate country music. I would WILLINGLY listen to 3 hours straight of country music if that meant I didn't have to attend Comm for a night. This should tell you something. Its an honors section of the communications class though and it is labeled "Public Speaking," but this in itself is a joke.

This class has no public speaking and will never adequately prepare a student for public speaking. NEVER. I have done quite a large amount of leadership stuff and subsequently I have done quite a bit of REAL public speaking. The kind of speaking that happens in front of the PUBLIC with a PURPOSE. Not me standing in front of 15 of my friends and an over-zealous teacher/grader. No, public speaking is a different monster. However, the Comm monster is stupider and larger. Everything you do and say while speaking is over-analyzed and given to you on a grading scale that can never be conquered. The scale is technically out of 40, but since the Communications Department here at UAF has deemed that no speech may ever be perfect an A is at the 30 point mark. My speech netted me a whole 20 points. The grading criteria is also incredibly subjective to the point where I may as well just give up. There is no objectivity in the grading here because it is solely based on how the teacher feels I met the criteria.

Not on the effectiveness of the speech. Not on the content of the speech (mostly). Its based on things such as: Did you touch the podium? Did she feel as if you talked about your topic enough? Did you follow your outline to the dot? Did you lose your place?

The standards are almost impossible to satisfy fully. As in it will NEVER happen. So this is the kind of class that I feel I will have problems with down the road because it is not my ability to speak or confidence in front of people that matters in a "Public Speaking" class (because that would make sense right?). No, this is a class that every little thing will be judged by a panel of one. The one who carries an iron fist of power and is not afraid to punch your grade in the crotch at any chance she gets. I mean, I lost points because although my informative speech was not persuasive (seriously it wasn't) she felt as if it came close. I had a section on the grading that had nothing but positive comments in it -- Grade on that section: 2/5.

I swear, I think my first persuasive speech will be on why the speech guidelines for that class are garbage and how it should be graded in order to accurately determine the effectiveness of a speech.

That's the other thing, the topics are beyond stupid that we can talk about. There are no guidelines, no expectations, no specific audience or topic to talk to/about. Just whatever you can muster for the 5 or 7 minute speeches. My first 2 speeches were about the "Benefits of Video Games on Society." Come on now, this has no relevance to my class or any group. Half of the topics that are presented would have NO place in a public setting. I wish this class either didn't exist or was actually public speaking... Not this pish posh garbage class that pretends to be a public speaking class. All the other Comm classes (that are not honors) actually live up to what they say they are going to be. Group Context is a class that presents speeches to different audiences based on the topics that they have. Public Context is a class that prepares the students for actual public speaking. But here I am being "taught at a different level than the average student." In this case it really means I'm wasting my time and energy for a stupid required course that may or may not be impossible to pull an A in.

So now I'm off to finish my speech outline for the speech I have to present tomorrow night on "The How-to's and Why it is Important to Tune Instruments."

I hate Comm.... I hate it a lot.

Sleeping the day away

Everyone does it. It happens (for most people) every night. But here I am telling sleep to go fall off a cliff because I won't be using it much this week.

I did however take a nap today/yesterday (I really believe that at college, days go from 3am-3am not Midnight-Midnight) and it just seems like such a time suck. Sure I feel better and well rested and stuff, but holy crap there is so much to do. This week I have a physics lab to finish up, calculus homework, and physics homework which are all due on Friday. I think it will take me about 6 or 7 hours to finish it all. Not too bad I suppose. But on the other hand, I have 10 hours of classes (assuming I don't skip or sleep in), 3 hours of pep band, 9 hours for meals, 2 hours for transportation, 2 hours for sports, and a whole bunch of hours up at Birch Hill this week for the ASAA State Nordic Skiing Championship. I'm going to be a wax tech! This will more than certainly eat some more of my time up (probably upwards of 12 hours) and then there is that pesky sleep again. There are only 76 hours left until I board a tour bus and head down to Anchorage for the Governors Cup.

Why must I sleep when there is so much to do?

Other than feeling better, sleep really is not all that productive. I lie there, breathe, and drool. That's it. I could be doing homework, or alleviating stress, or waxing instead with that time! But no, I'll average 6 hours a night on sleep probably just laying there and drooling... Woo.... That is 24 hours down the toilet.

If you do the math, that means there are 76 hours until I leave. Take that 76 and subtract 24 for sleeping, 10 for classes, 7 for homework, 3 for pep band, and 12 for State, 2 for running around, 2 for sports, and 9 for meals. This brings my grand total to 7 free hours in 4 days. Come on now. That means that about 7% of my time this week is free time.

And I really like free time.... It lets me bother Derick, or eat ramen late at night with Elika, or crash on Denali and Ashley's beanbag. Or I guess in this case blog.... I should probably be productive soon... And actually be productive.

So say goodbye to sleep for now!

Bye bye!

Music for body and soul

Music has been a part of my life for basically as long as I can remember. I loved listening to music when I was little and started playing instruments in the 4th grade (technically 3rd grade if you count the recorder, but I usually don't...). I played the trumpet and it was the coolest thing ever to be able to come out of class twice a week and play my instrument in a small classroom from the "Standard of Excellence: Level 1" red book. Volga Boat Song was my favorite (It was number 109!). So I continued playing the trumpet for different schools all the way through the 8th grade. Then I hit high school for the first time.

High school band my Freshman year did not approve of me doing sports. I wanted to be in band again (because even then music was a huge part of my life) and the resounding answer was a direct "No." To be in Symphonic Band you had to be in the marching band. To be in the marching band you had to go to band camp at the end of the summer and give up most weekends during the school year. That just wasn't going to fly. I played D1 soccer in Everett and there was no way that I would give that up.

Not a chance.

So I didn't end up playing my freshman year because of that little problemo. I thought it also applied my sophomore year, but apparently with the new director it would have been fine. So I didn't play my sophomore year either. That was a sad couple of years because I missed music during that time. Music is a fun way to develop skills, lung capacity, and the ability to work within a group towards a common goal. Ensembles strive to make music with a group-wide balance, and when it is achieved, it sounds beautiful.So that was kinda lost for two years of my life. Then I packed up and moved to the great white north world of Alaska and was almost immediately asked to play in the pep band for when the cruise ships came around. Now, this was after 2 years of not playing at all, so it was pretty terrible. Yet I stuck with it and ended up in the Region II Honor Band on trumpet that year.


I think that one event started my enjoyment of music as it is now. I played in the Honor Band, then traveled with the Jazz Band to State Solo and Ensemble that year as a fill in for someone who couldn't go, then started having fun with messing around with instruments. I played the chimes for a choir song that year too because random percussion is fun. Way less stress too when they don't expect any sort of genius skill or memorization, they just wanted me to play it and have fun with it. It was great.

Senior year I played the trumpet for the first semester because of some.... mishaps. Like my first trumpet of the semester I sat on. It still played (kinda) but the bell was bent at something like a 30 degree angle. Never put your instrument on your chair for standing breathing exercises... Then the next trumpet I had broke inside of the spit valve and so it couldn't retain air properly to make the right tones. (That one wasn't my fault either!) But that happened so I needed to find an instrument to play. Why not the french horn? We already have 6 trumpets in the band and no french horns so I'll play that! And so I did. Sure I cheated a whole bunch (I took all the F horn music and transposed it to Bb music, then played the french horn with trumpet fingerings and the Bb key held down the whole time. It kinda worked... But not really). So that started that in my life.

However the funniest music news of the year came with Honor Band auditions. So Kasey and I were doing our auditions on the last possible day after ski practice having never practiced any of the music before. We were there from 5:30 to 11:30. It was great. ANYWAYS, I finished up my french horn audition tape pretty quickly and it was terrible. TERRIBLE. Okay so I had only been playing it for about a month and a half and had been cheating, it was destined to suck. But then since Kasey was still working and I didn't want to desert him, making a percussion audition tape seemed like a logical choice! So I went and looked up what some of the symbols meant in the percussion music (because I am uncoordinated with my left hand and have never played percussion) and gave every song one recording and submitted a CD. My song for mallet percussion took over 5 minutes for a song that was supposed to last for 1 minute (because I am just that awesome). But the tape was really just for laughs.

Except then it became serious when I ended up as 3rd chair for the Honor Band out of something like 24 applicants. CONFUSED. Our director called me in on parent-teacher conference day to ask what on Earth happened and to explain how I was picked. Apparently to be a percussionist you don't really have to be that good, just be able to follow instructions and independently keep a beat. And I was fully intent on playing percussion in the Honor Band! This was hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing! Or at least until I found out the bad news to the story. Kasey ended up as 1st alternate for the Honor Band. Sadface.... So of course I gave up my spot. He's an awesome percussionist and one of my best friends and Region Music Fest was actually in Valdez so I wouldn't take that spot from him.

(It was still super funny though).

I also played the djembe for choir that year.

And the bass drum for Valdez High School's first ever Command Performance at the State Solo and Ensemble competition.

Basically it was an awesome year for music in my life. So now here I am at college and music has stayed with me. I remember walking in at orientation and going to find my room key where Hadassah told me to go and try to join Wind Symphony. Sure I went and auditioned, but man was it UGLY. Dr. Gustafson didn't even let me do the sightreading portion of the audition because it was just that bad. I made it in though! Music in college is way better than it is in high school too. The people actually want to play (for the most part) and the music is a lot harder! And slowly but steadily I have been improving. Like the fact that I can actually read my music and pitches that are written in F now. Its kinda important. Plus my Jury grade was a B! That's exciting for me!

Its my horn!

So now this is semester 2 of music and we are playing all sorts of fun stuff in Wind Symphony and I really enjoy playing music. It is a good way to learn a new skill, learn how to keep a beat, and to listen/play some really good music. I guess this means that the point to take away from reading this is that you should play some music. Whether you have or not in the past, it is really relaxing (so long as you don't take on too many music commitments) and sounds pretty cool too.

Music makes me happy :)

In rememberance

I've spent some time reflecting on the past recently and just thinking about stuff in general. Its really kind of fun every once in a while. The past is full of all sorts of intellectual treasures, junk piles, and some of those memories you wish you didn't have sometimes. But really when you think of it, every point in your life has had some effect on your life. Whether its how you see people, how you go about your daily life, or how to deal with situations, you have been changed by every moment in your past.

Now being the person that I am, these thoughts have been very random to say the least. Heh, its kind of how I go about things: RANDOMLY. Random is far more enjoyable than predictability in my opinion. So anyways to prove my point, here is a small sampling of what has been traveling through my brain recently:
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I can totally still remember my first crush. Her name was Emily Corlette and that was waaaayyy back in the 4th grade. I lived in Williamsburg, Virginia at the time and she was super cute. I can still remember what she looked like too. She was taller than I was (yes back in the day I was a short little kid), blonde, and had braces. I don't remember too much else other than the fact that I gave her a huge stuffed dog on the last day of school and moved shortly thereafter.

Running long distances is a freaking fantastic way to not only get in shape, but to mellow a confused brain out. That "runner's high" is just what I need sometimes to just take a deep breath (or quite a few since it takes a while) and think about things as well as send those wonderful endorphins coursing through my brain. It is a magical feeling and I urge everyone to go and do it sometime. Plus its a much better alternative to just sitting around and being confused or frustrated. Put that energy to good use and fix it for yourself! I want to try and run at least 5k every other day to stay in shape and out of confusion.

Dry ice bombs (and by bomb I mean pressure expansion.... no real explosives involved) are a cheap way to hear a big bang and watch gallon jugs of water fly into the air. The materials to make a decent sized one will really only cost you about $2.50 or so which is pretty amazing considering how much fun you can have with them.

Likealittle is a hilarious website and I have yet to regret being one of the founding members of it. Anonymous flirting may seem kind of strange at first, but really once you get in to it, its a ton of fun and the possibilities are practically endless. Plus the amusement of watching what other people say and being able to comment on it makes it all the better! Plus if you are the one doing the flirting, they'll never know its you.... (Unless one of your friends happens to be Elika who can read your mind and analyze your writing. Then people might know it was you.)

I think I need more techno music in my days. The beat is strong, the electronic music is playing, and it keeps me in my own little world sometimes. The kind of world where all I have to focus on is the repetition of the music and keeping the beat strong. I love techno/electronica music.

Physics lives in the world of make believe... I refuse to make up data by conforming to significant figures and problems that have the disclaimers of "Assume there is no friction, no air resistance, the pulley and the string are massless, and every system is a closed system" are stupid. This will NEVER happen in real life.

The pen is superior to the pencil.

For anyone who hasn't yet: go take the Library Science competency test in the Testing Center. That class is a waste and the test is so freaking easy if you have ever found a book in the library before.

The three best movies I have seen lately are (in order from the best to the "still awesome but not the best"): Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Inception, Avatar.

My core friends group keeps life so much more interesting here at college. I'm glad they are there :) Now if only they all didn't live down in the other dorm (minus 1). It makes Moore a lonely place sometimes. But then I go bother people on my floor (yes that means you especially Kris. BOTHER).
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All of that only scratches the surface of my thoughts, but alas, it is what it is.

C'est la vie.

The start of something new

So yesterday I flew back to school up in the frigid land of Fairbanks. This was the highlight of my month. Now not only do I get to see all my friends again and do social things, but I have returned to my little land of independence. I eat when I want, do what I want (although I still attend all of my classes), and just enjoy the freedoms of college life. Besides, this puts off having to exist in the working world for as long as possible!

Now some people may wonder why I started writing a blog. I have a strange suspicion that writing every once in a while about my thoughts will help my brain become a little more organized and a little less confuzzled. Plus a couple of my super-awesome friends write some excellent blogs and told me I should try it out (and you should go look at them here and here because they are awesome). My page even has a plant on it and I wish I could have a plant... Until then I have my little solar powered plant that dances in the sunlight and kind of acts like a real plant, just without the growing and care required to survive parts. I think I like the plant picture in the back because its bright and cheery and colorful.

Also, I am one of those crazy students here at UAF. Why do one major when you could do two? Related majors? Nobody does that! Well, maybe some people do but not me. I mean come on, Computer Science and Music are totally similar in the sense that nothing in my course load matches up EVER. But I guess that is the challenge at my feet.

I have accepted it and embrace the new adventures ahead.