It's Great To Be A Michigan Wolverine!

Oh, my... where do I begin? I went to the UM vs. MSU game yesterday and it was so totally amazingly awesome! But let's start at the beginning.

My Saturday basically started around 2pm when I went to meet Steve at his friend's house on Packard St. I was going to walk to the game with Steve and hang out with him there so I wouldn't be all alone... my friends were either gone, in the marching band, not going, or I didn't know where the heck they were. So Steve and I walked to some pole outside the stadium and there we met up with Randy Ososki, Justin Kelly, Clint Anderson, and Doc. We all walked to the stadium and sat together even though our tickets weren't for the same spot. When I went through the place where they tear off your ticket stub when you walk in, the old guy who tore it off said that I look just like my father. That was a little weird.

So, we sat down in section 28 and waited for over an hour for the game to start. The MSU marching band played some pre-game stuff and then the UM marching band played their pre-game stuff. I must say, the UM band's entries were much more impressive than the MSU band's entries. But sadly, I couldn't hear either band very well because of the insane wind. The wind was actually really cool though... cool as in fun/interesting as well as cold. It would pick up stuff and blow it all over the place. For example, there was a plastic bag or something and it started from my side of the stadium and it flew up and down almost to the ground and then the wind picked it up again and it blew here and there and everywhere until finally landing on someone's head on the other side of the stadium. At one point during the game, it blew a blow-up football onto the field during a play and it fooled me for a second... I thought there had been a fumble. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When the game finally did start, it started badly. MSU was scoring and Michigan wasn't. MSU was getting first downs and Michigan wasn't. It was disheartening, and it didn't help that there were two annoying girl MSU fans behind us yelling and saying dumb stuff. Doc told me more than once to "take them out" and I was awfully close to doing that. By halftime Michigan was still down by a touchdown... 10-17. But, by this time I had learned all the cheers... all the many "go blue" cheers and the "you suck" cheer (how nice) and the key shaking thing on third downs (I think) and the hat/yelling thing for kick-offs and everything else. Wow, the games are a blast.

The halftime show was fun. I watched it intently. The only bad thing was that, because of the wind, it was hard to hear. I learned later that when doing their entries, the people in the band were wobbling to the point of almost falling over because the wind was so strong, but that wasn't apparent to the casual observer.

The third quarter came and went with no scoring whatsoever. But then the fourth quarter was something else. First, MSU scored another fieldgoal and another touchdown putting them ahead by 17. It seemed utterly hopeless. There were seven minutes left and we were down by 17. At this point, the two annoying MSU girls went somewhere else to rush the field when MSU won. But then UM got a fieldgoal followed by an onside kick that was recovered by the Wolverines. With six minutes left U of M got a touchdown. Three minutes later we got another one, tying the score at 27. Wow, you don't even know how much people were freaking out when that happened. You should've seen their faces and heard the noise. Wow. Time ran out and it was tied, but there was a defensive foul so MSU had a chance to win with a field goal from 40-some yards back. Thankfully, the wind was strong and the kick didn't even make it to the goal posts.

The overtimes were intense. When our guys were on defense the crowd would yell, "defense! defense!" and then just yell as loud as they could when the play was about to begin. In the first overtime, both teams got fieldgoals. In the second overtime, both teams got touchdowns and extra points. In the third overtime, there is a rule that if you get a touchdown, you have to go for the two extra points instead of just the one. Michigan was up first and they got a touchdown, making the score 43-37. Then they had to go for the two points and somehow they got it! ...flipping-out city. When it was MSU's turn they got penalties and lost yardage and stuff, and the game ended on an incomplete pass to the endzone. I think when that happened every Michigan fan in the stadium threw their fists into the air and screamed. Final score: 45 UM - 37 MSU. Wow... joy, screaming, yelling, exultaion, singing, jumping up and down, high-fives, hugs, smiles, and the chant, "It's great... to be... a Mich-i-gan Wol-ver-ine".

After the game, we walked to Doc's Envoy, packed all six of us into it (Randy, Justin, Clint, and I were all in the backseat), and then went to the Mongolian Barbeque. We had to wait for at least a half an hour for a table. We would've had to wait longer, but Mike Dittenber, Mike's girlfriend, and Neil Bergeron got there early and put in our request. We got drinks at the bar while we waited. The food there was so good (I ate duck!) but it was also very expensive. After dinner, Steve went with Mike, and Doc drove me back to South Quad. Riding in a packed car with those guys is an interesting but not very pleasant experience.

When I got back, I stopped at Alison's room to ask about going to church tomorrow and Sarah was there, so we walked Sarah back to Alice Lloyd on the hill around midnight. I like walking through Ann Arbor at night.

And that was my Saturday. Something else noteworthy happened, but I don't think it would be smart to post it on here for all to see. Tonight, I'm going to Tian's house with people and we are going to make dinner and stuff. It should be a fun time. Oh, and I took pictures at the game, so I'll post those on imgestation sometime soon.

Good Times In A Jar

It was raining this morning and I got wet on my way to the MLB. But it was the first time I had experienced a thunderstorm in Ann Arbor, so it's all good. ...and we didn't have the calc quiz today that I didn't study for.

Well, today was a full full day. Around 3:30 I went to Elbel Field and played football with some people. At one point I was trying to tackle someone and I lunged for their feet and missed, and from there the details are sketchy. I remember hitting the ground and then getting up right away, but I don't remember how I hit the ground or even really getting up. All I remember is thinking, 'I wonder if I just got a concussion,' when I was on the ground and then the next thing I remember is when I was walking around. When I stood up, I was really out of it... like, I felt really weird... lightheaded maybe or something. My neck at the base of my head was sore, but there wasn't pain or anything. After about 5 minutes, I was back to feeling pretty normal... or at least I was in my right mind.

I went to Cru in the evening and got to read #5 in a top ten list in front of a couple hundred people. Oh, joy. After Cru, someone came up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, and then introduced himself (Josh). This stuck out in my mind just because it's not something that happens often in my life... people that I don't know never come up behind me and tap me on the shoulder... as it was happening I was thinking, 'whoa, this is unnatural.'

Around 10pm, we went to a party at Phi Alpha Kappa (the Christian frat). It was a Halloween party so almost everyone was dressed up. There were some very interesting costumes. Ross from my dorm was wearing a onesie (I don't know how to spell that) as a shirt and very small little boy's pants. There were two other guys dressed similarly. It was so funny to walk down the street with them and watch people's expressions. At one point a cop car with two women cops in it drove by, and the looks on their faces were hilarious. I saw a couple supermans, a cat in the hat, a tube of toothpaste, a few quail men, and so many others that I can not recall at this moment. It was packed with people... good times.

I totally sent out some German e-cards during my German class yesterday! I think I will send out more later when I have more email addresses at my disposal.

I yllatnedicca etorw "ym" sdrawkcab dna I detnaw ot ees tahw ti dluow eb ekil fi I did ti htiw a elohw ecnetnes. Llew, won I wonk. I yllautca ekil gniod siht. Yawyna...

The Great Books lecture yesterday was somewhat interesting. The history actually interests me more than the literature. I like ancient history. Maybe I'll have to find and take a class about anceint history that's not like Alison's honors seminar.

That means I have another thing to add to my list of interests:
1. Music
2. Calculus
3. Trees
4. Ancient History

It would be so awesome if I could have a semester where I have a music class, a calc class, a class about trees, and an ancient history class! If the professors/instructors/GSIs were cool, I would have a totally awesome semester.

There is another thing that I'm interested in, but I haven't figured out how to put it into a one or two word description.

...disorientation...

The west side of South Quad always disorients me.

I was feeling badly this afternoon so I went to the underground, layed down on a couch with my CD player playing Pirates of the Caribbean and with Herodatus sitting on my leg (so I would at least feel like I wasn't being totally unproductive), and took a breather and maybe a nap... I don't know, I think I might've dozed off but I can't be sure.To elaborate on the Herodatus thing, that is how it always is for me. I took the book with me, having no intention of reading it, and set it on my leg like the information was going to absorb through my jeans into my bloodstream and then into my brain. I always do stuff like that. Like on Monday night, I was watching Stargate with my Great Books notes in my hand but I wasn't reading them or looking at them or anything. I just felt like I was accomplishing something more having them in my hand as opposed to having them in their folder... like, once again, the info would absorb into my blood and travel to my brain through no effort of my own. I guess I just feel better when I'm pretending to be accomplishing something than when I'm blatently not accomplishing anything.

Anyway, I woke up on the couch in the basement of SQ and looked at my watch. It was quarter to 5. I then looked up at the ceiling and the first thing that popped into my head was, "It's quarter to five and God is with me." I don't know... it just made me feel a little bit better.

Today when I was walking back from Calc, the wind was blowing and a bunch of leaves from the trees were flying off. It reminded me of a room full of bubbles but with leaves instead. It was the perfect picture of fall.

Moi Kaikilla

We learned how to say "hello for everyone" in Finnish during calc today, hence the title. We also learned "hi" and "bye". Ah, the joys of calc.

Good news... my Great Books discussion for tomorrow was cancelled. We took the mid-term today, so there's really no reason to have the discussion tomorrow I suppose. The mid-term was ehh. It went. I basically wrote whatever I could think of about the books for 54 minutes straight... five whole pages (front only). Ugh. But then the rest of my day was carefree because I got the GB mid-term over with in the morning.

Some Useful Info:
In jelly, the fruit comes in the form of fruit juice.
In jam, the fruit comes in the form of fruit pulp or crushed fruit (and is less stiff than jelly as a result).
In preserves, the fruit comes in the form of chunks in a syrup or a jam.

I can't wait for Christmas. I'm already planning out and getting people's presents. In Germany, a popular gift is homemade t-shirts (like, a white t-shirt with something original on it... not completely homemade like knitted for anything). How would you feel if I made a t-shirt for you for Christmas?

Chalk sounds an awful lot like chocolate... another thing I learned in German 103.

Life experiences are just fun... and so is doing what I'm doing right now. At this very moment, I am searching the internet for Christmas presents. Ross is, by far, the easiest person to think up Christmas presents for. Maybe I just know him too well... or maybe I just think I know what I'm doing but in reality I don't, or maybe it's just incredibly obvious. I guess we'll find out come Christmas. I seem to be preoccupied with Christmas. I suppose that is better than being wrapped up in certain other things... like school. Who wants to be preoccupied with school? I'm sure not. I think I've been doing less work and spending less time on school and studying this year than I did during my senior year in high school. But I bet now that I said that, I will get a ton of work and be overloaded. Figures.

Guess what!?!? But, before we get to my important news, how do you think "guess what" should be written: with a question mark (?) or an exclamation point (!)? Vanessa had to make a poster for Mrs. Fritz last year that said "Guess What" on it but she made it with exclamation points instead of question marks, and Mrs. Fritz said it was supposed to be a question mark. Hmm. Then Vanessa asked me and after thinking about it, I agreed with her. We brought it up in Calc and Doc disagreed; he sided with the question marks. In fact, I believe that every teacher we asked sided with the question marks. When asked why, they said, "because that's the way it is." Well, I personally think it should be an exclamation point or a period (if you're not excited about what the person is supposed to guess). What do you think? Anyway, my exciting news is that I get to step on the "M" in the diag now. I took my first blue book exam so there is no longer a curse to worry about. Alison and I are going to do that sometime this week or next week and we're going to document it with pictures. But I'm not stepping on it until I find out if I passed my GB exam (that was the blue book one).

The End

Another day, another week

One more thing about Hill Auditorium... There was a place on the stage where they put all the carts of chairs and stands and the piano, and they lowered everything down under the stage. That was nifty.

Today started out badly, simply because I was once again enraged by my roommate in the early morning hours. I will not elaborate on that for sanity's sake. Alison has similar roommate problems. If only we could make a switch somehow.

Luckily, my day was redeemed when I reached the lobby of South Quad as I was on my way to class. I met up with Bob and we walked to the MLB together. So that changed the footing of the start of my day (from the wrong foot to the right foot). We got our tests back in German. My prediction was correct: I got a B+, 89%. ...Not bad.

I switched to a new toothbrush a few days ago. It was about time... my other one was starting to smell weird. I think Vanessa is the only person who would fully appreciate the content of this paragraph.

When I get tired I have trouble making my eyes focus.

Well, I need to study or something now.

Lack of Motivation

First of all, can we say "wow". Band-O-Rama was awesome. The Marching Band rocked. Ross really should've taken me up on my invitation to go... he really missed out. First, the Concert Band played "National Anthem" arranged by John Williams, and that alone made it worth my $10. Then they played "Suite from 'Catch Me If You Can'" and that was really cool. The Concert Band's last song was "'M' Rhapsody", which was written by this guy Floyd Werle when he was a sophomore at U of M. Next came the Symphony Band, and they played "Victors Valient", "Lullaby for Kirsten", and "Star Wars Trilogy". The Star Wars one had 5 different themes from Star Wars, but The Imperial March was the coolest. Then there was an intermission and I called Ross, but he wasn't home... something about a pumpkin farm. The Marching Band came out next. Their entry was very impressive. They filled up the stage and it was only a fraction of the whole band. The drum major was cool. They played many things, including "Harry Potter", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Video Game Medly", and "Livin' on a Prayer". It totally rocked. They did their drumline thing (or "Step Show" or whatever), and that was really entertaining. Overall, the Marching Band was very big and very loud but very very cool.

All of you who didn't go to Band-O-Rama totally missed out. It was completely awesome. During one song, I heard a little girl behind me ask her mother, "What's that instrument that's playing?" Her mother said, "That's a basoon and those are clarinets." Then the girl said, "Oh. They're 'prit-tie'." It was so cute. The senior band (or at least the cool people from it) should come see Band-O-Rama next year... it's on October 22nd. There were quite a few school busses there last night, but I wouldn't recommend taking a bus... not like the school would let them anyway.

Hill Auditorium was very impressive as well. I liked it better than Detroit Symphony Hall. It doesn't have the huge lobby on the side like Detroit, but the actual performance area was more modern and more... flowing, maybe. I don't know, it was just great.

Secondly, I found my long-lost watch. It was in a pocket of my winter coat. Now I have two of the same watch. Well, actually I've had two of the same watch for a few months. But as interesting as this paragraph is, I suppose I will have to move on. By the way, when I put on my winter coat for the first time since winter, it brought back rushes of high school senior-year memories. Ah, the memories. Ok, really moving on now.

This morning I went to church at New Life Church... the first time I've gone to church in Ann Arbor. It was cool. They had a band leading worship, and I kind of wish they weren't so loud, but it's cool. The speaker was good. He talked about truth and how everyone thinks truth is relative. It was really interesting... not boring like many sermons can be (don't I know). I guess some people just have the natural ability to catch and hold the audiences attention when they speak. I doubt that I am one of those people. My dad sure isn't one of those people.

I've heard a lot of people say that they have too much to do and not enough time. My situation is a little different... I have too much to do but not enough motivation. Time is no problem, just the motivation.

It's All About Blue

I had a nice post all typed out yesterday and then it didn't save. I'm annoyed.

Anyway, yesterday morning I woke up and went to German. We had a test and it wasn't easy but I don't think I'll get any worse than a B, but who knows, maybe I'll fail. Anything is a possibility. After German, I went to my Great Books discussion, but I wasn't listening because I was too preoccupied with my Calc quiz that was coming up in an hour. The calc quiz wasn't hard. There were 10 true or false questions worth 2 points each if answered correctly, 0 points if answered incorrectly, and 1 point if not answered at all. I didn't answer one and I got one wrong because I was an idiot but I think I got number 11 right, so I should get a B or B+ on the quiz.

Yesterday afternoon/evening didn't have much to it. I watched Stargate while doing some calc homework (related rates!) and then went to Cru. Cru was a little more boring this time, but whatever. They didn't sing any of the songs that I especially like. After Cru, Alison and I went to some place that I forgot what it's called and got food and ice cream. We talked for a while and it was fun. I got to see the marching band's uniform! Yes, I am a band geek, but I love it.

Today I did a little Christmas shopping. I bought... wouldn't you like to know. I got 1.5 things for me and 1.5 things for others, and it wasn't cheap. One of the things I bought for myself was a yellow Michigan sweatshirt that I will be wearing to the UM vs. MSU football game. Yes, I am going! I already arranged a ticket, now I just have to get it and pay for it. I bought this other really really cool thing today but sadly I can't tell you what it is, but it's awesome!

Tonight I will be going to this thing called Band-O-Rama in Hill Auditorium. The Symphony Band, Concert Band, and Marching Band will be performing. Ten bucks for the ticket... not bad. I'm in the second balcony though. I could've gotten better seats for $5 more, but I didn't. The point is to hear them, not necessarily to see them, and five bucks is 5 bucks.

It's halftime in the UM vs. Purdue game. Michigan is winning 10-7!

There's really not much to say besides what I already said. I wish someone was online that I could talk to. But no one is.

I'm listening to the James Bond theme right now. Heh.

This calc homework is kicking my butt...

...and there is nowhere to go for help. I have no one to turn to at this point. Did I ever really have anyone? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps I should just give up this pointless, everlasting struggle. But is it pointless? Some would say it is not, and on the good days I tend to believe them. But then there are those days when I am terribly beat by this thing that I both love and hate, and I begin to wonder if I really want to continue. Is it truly worth it? I hope the answer is yes.

But, no worries. I will emerge victorious. ...However, there will be no alcohol for me today. We all know it's not safe to drink and derive. ;)

I made some time this afternoon to play the piano. It was refreshing. After that, I worked on calc for a few hours. That was positively painstaking, brain-busting, arduous work... and yet considerably enjoyable at the same time. I then took a walk to the Michigan League to buy a ticket for Band-O-Rama, and I did. The rest of my evening will consist of dinner, Stargate, taping up pictures, math lab, German studying, calc studying, and sleeping.

I will leave you with this quote from Salcador Dali:
"There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad."

Much Homework, Little Sleep

Well, I'm all nice and cozy back in my dorm room... fall "study" break is over.

On Saturday, Ross, Ryan, Alecia, BethAnne, Hannah, and I went to Pizza Hut. Ross and I had a Seinfeld moment involving the sauce container. But before that, there was some heated discussion over the toppings... Ross didn't want vegetables, BethAnne didn't want pepperoni, many didn't like ham... it was intense. Hannah and I had our stuffed crust figured out in less than 2 seconds... pepperoni and mushrooms. After the toppings dilemma was worked out, we went around the table and described our perfect pizza. Later than night, Ryan, Ross, and I went back to my house and played Dutch Blitz and stuff. Fun times. Earlier that day, Ross and I went leaf hunting and made a tree-friend.

Not much happened after church on Sunday. I watched TV.

I went into school on Monday. Angie was there, so I got to talk to her. Then I visited the pre-calc/AP calc class and announced myself with the usual throwing of the book. Band was next and I got to play with them. It was nice... like I never left. After school concluded for the day, we (Ross, BethAnne, Ryan, Alecia, and I) went to Ross's and finished Jaws and watched Wes Craven's New Nightmare. I could've lived without seeing that one. Ryan, Ross, and I went to the chinese place in Standish around 8-ish and discussed the chinese zodiac thing. I'm a tiger, Ross is a dragon, and Ryan is a hare.

Tuesday I went to Bible study and sat by Ben and Ross. It was fun, but I'm afraid I was causing much of the ruckus. I was not aware that Joel had become a regular. I saw the new people, and for the record, I am not related to them. Ben gave me a cool army pin that totally matched my Bible cover and he remembered things from my blog. We were the best dictator/vice-dictator pair ever. I got to see Isaiah's black football shirt thing up close. Apple fritter all the way. After Bible study, I went to Ross's and we decided on my color. I'm a green, what can I say... maybe that's why I enjoy calculus... or maybe I'm a green because I enjoy calculus. Hmm, figure that one out.

I returned to Ann Arbor today around 9am, went to German, GB discussion, Calc, lunch (where I found out about the Band-O-Rama), and then returned to my room where I've been ever since. There were so many blogs to catch up on... Ben's were especially interesting. I believe I shall work on calc and German tonight. Oh, joy.

Also, I was harassed twice during lunch about my Wisconsin sweatshirt. Can I help it if my uncle got his doctorate in organic chemistry from there this year?

Apparently it was cold this morning because I could see my breath, but I wasn't actually cold.

Change of Scenery

A- on my calc mid-term!... 45/50. I would've gotten 47/50 if I wouldn't have made a really really dumb mistake... I guess it pays off to actually read the question before you answer it.

It's nice being home. But I wasn't home for an hour before I left again. I went to Ross's and we watched the tape of their marching band's half time show and then watched some of his band camp tape. I miss band so much. Then Alecia, Ryan, and BethAnne showed up, and we all piled in Alecia's wagon and went to the football game. Ross and I hid in the back when we got to AE, and so we got in free. It was cold, windy, and rainy, and the game didn't start off too good for our team. But we won easily... 57-6. After the game, we all went back to Ross's and watched Jaws. Then I went home and slept very nicely in my wonderful comfortable bed. Ahh, it is good to be home.

The leaves are all changing colors. I love fall.

Whoever designed the Chem Building needs to be shot.

So my calc mid-term was today from 6pm-7:30... the first of 3 calc exams this semester... 20% of my final grade... yeah. It was in the Chemistry Building. I won't say how I think I did, but I will say that I answered every question and got done with 15 minutes to spare, but it was only 50 points total. It really could go either way, but I'm hoping for a good grade.

Because of my calc mid-term today that was in the Chem Building, I made a detour into the Chem Building after my calc class to locate the room the exam was in, and it turned out to be quite a detour. All I had to do was find 1640. I walked in the southeast doors and into a weird vegetationy place, so I found a hallway that had a little sign for which way which numbers were. It was like 1100-1200 one way and 1400-1500 the other way. ...no 1600's. So I started walking randomly hoping to come across a sign that would point my to the 1600's. After many turns down many hallways I finally actually came to a dead end... either turn around or go out of the building, so I went out the doors. It turns out that I had made my way to the complete opposite end of the building without finding the 1600's. So I walked back down the sidewalk to the doors on the south side of the building and went back in. This time I stumbled across the place where I had went in the first time. There was a hallway that I hadn't explored on the other side of the vegetationy place but there were big exit signs in the hall, so I didn't know if it would be worth trying. I went that way anyway, but on my way there I saw two doors on the north side of the vegetationy place, walked to them, and saw that just happened to be 1650 and 1640. Finally. After a good 10 minutes wandering around the Chemistry Building I had found room 1640. The Chem building is insane and confusing; hence the title.

There are 12 blogs that I have in my favorites to check... and I WANT TO KNOW WHAT COLOR I AM!!! ...I'm thinking Green>Gold>=Blue>Orange, but I don't know. Those tests are too easy to manipulate. I think I might be a good mix of Green, Gold, and Blue.

Tasting Every Moment

Guess what!...

We totally did related rates today in calc! It made me happy.

I got an A on my first Music Theory exam! There was only one little part that I got wrong... apparently the chord wasn't a 1/2 diminished 7th chord.

German was fun today!

I saw Steve and Kyle today! Steve needs to cut his hair or at least brush it.

Lunch was kinda gross but the conversation over lunch was interesting.

I had the best dream last night!

I'd take a calc exam over writing a paper any day.

It's strange the things one remembers:

I remember this one time during the summer before 2nd grade when I was at my grandparents' house with my parents. My aunt asked me what grade I was going into and I said, "2nd - the lots of homework grade." Then she asked me what my favorite subject was and I said math.

Fast forward to 2nd grade... I remember sitting in the back of the classroom in a little group of people. We all had cards with words on them and we had to put two cards together to make one word. My word was "sweat" but I thought it was pronounced "sweet", so we had all the cards paired up except my "sweat" and someone else's "shirt". Then the teacher, Mrs. Gordon, came back and set me straight.

Another time in 2nd grade, I remember sitting at my desk with a bad headache trying to do my math work. It was a worksheet about adding nines and it was tough. Also, I remember in 1st grade when we had a math test and one question was "18+__=19". And me, being the absent minded dyslexicish dumb mistake maker that I am, thought it said "18+19=__". So I sat there trying my darn hardest to add 18 and 19. I think I ended up coming up with 31 for my answer... just a few off (actually, I'm not much better at adding today... I added 18 and 19 in my head just a minute ago to check my 1st grade answer with the correct answer and I came up with 35. Yes, thank you, I do know now that it is actually 37). But then when we got the graded tests back, the teacher said that only one person got them all right, and boy was I cocky in my young age because I was sure that it was me. As we all know, it wasn't me, but would you believe that it was Joanna?


I suppose I'll stop with the memories thing for now. I was just thinking about it because lately I've been seeing things and realizing things that are hard to explain. It's like, I sit here and don't know why I'm here or if this is where I'm supposed to be or what I'm supposed to major in or what I'm supposed to do with my life, and then I stop and think and remember and things begin to fall into place.

I'd like to believe that I belong here at U of M, that this is where God wants me to be. But getting here was so hard. You all probably know all that I went through during my senior year because of this stinkin' university. If you don't know, it's a long and involved story (over a page, single-spaced in Word), so I'll post it in the comments or something. But anyway, after I had finally made the decision to go to U of M, I kept seeing these little things in my past that seemed to indicate that UM was where I was supposed to be. One of these things was a picture in the newspaper from 4th grade where my whole class was standing outside with our "trucker buddy". Out of everyone, there were only two people wearing U of M shirts: me and Steve. Out of everyone in my class, we were the only two to go to U of M. Coincidence? Sure. But what a coincidence that we would both happen to wear that shirt on the day that our class was getting our picture in the newspaper and then both attend that university. That is just one of many things I've seen with regard to me being at UM. There are more things about my major and such, but I really need to do some homework... or else it won't matter what I want to major in because I'll be kicked out.

Columbus Day Celebrates Genocide

...or so I'm told.

My roommate, Stephanie, came back yesterday and her stuff smelled like Ross and his house. It was a nice scent from home...

I took a 3 hour long nap yesterday afternoon. I woke up at 11ish, went back to sleep at 1:30pm, and then slept until 4:30pm. I would've slept longer but there were distractions. Actually, I think I'm sick again. Saturday night I woke up because I could hardly breathe. My nose was almost completely stuffed and nose-juice kept draining into my throat making me want to clear my throat every other minute. I tried breathing exclusively through my mouth but that was difficult if not laborious. So I propped up my pillows and slept semi-sitting up. But my sickness is just not nose stuff. Saturday evening and night I felt feverish and Sunday I felt weak and lethargic... and tired, hence the 3 hour nap. Also, when I'm sick and tired I tend to have trouble forming intelligible thoughts. Sunday as I was sitting there, my thoughts weren't making any sense and it was ticking me off. I was trying to go to sleep but my thoughts were comfusing me and keeping me awake because I was trying to figure out what the heck I was thinking.

This morning I totally forgot to put on deodorant. Yes, I am sure you were dying to know that. Perhaps I forgot because of my sick, fuzzy thinking... who knows. But I was all the way to North University on my way to the MLB before I realized that I forgot. Obviously, I couldn't turn back then. So I decided to go back to my dorm after my 1st class, since I had a 1 hour break, and take care of the deodorant issue. I almost considered waiting until the hour break after my second class because it's just sooo much walking (SQ to MLB to SQ to Dennison to SQ to Bell Tower to SQ), but I decided against that one. Intense, I know.

My calc mid-term is Wednesday so I have to study for that. I have to read the Oresteia which is surprisingly not a bad read. I need to fix my GB paper before I forget what my GSI told me to do with it. I should start my calc homework that is due Friday the 22nd before I forget how to do it. Well, it's not so much that I'll forget how to do it but that I'll forget how I'm supposed to do that specific homework. For example, I won't forget how to take derivatives but I could forget that I have to do it with the definiton of a derivative for the homework instead of using the easier and faster derivative rules. These are my 4 main projects right now.

...5 Stargates tonight. Think what you will. Addiction? Naw, not even close. ;)

Finally Friday

Today I got some good news in calc. I got 100% on the chapter 2 calc quiz!!! It wasn't because I did the problems right but because Jani's grader sucks. Jani said that almost everyone got full credit for #2 but if we did it like that on the mid-term then we wouldn't get credit. I did #2 semi-right, but I still got 10/10.

I heard the marching band playing "Let's Go Maroon" (but I suppose it'd be "Let's Go Blue" here) and it sounded infinitely cooler than what we used to play in high school. Like, the first measure was low brass then the second measure trumpets added and then the third measure it sounded like the woodwinds added but weren't playing the same thing and then it ended kind of normally but pretty cool. Listening to them makes me want to be in marching band so bad! Maybe next year, and that's a very iffy maybe. Next semester I'm hoping for campus band but even that is up in the air.

It sucks that the football team lost.

Semicolonish... try that one in spell-check.

My music theory professor is great. He's a riot. But it's hard to explain. The title is a quote from the music theory lecture today. I have five different instructors and I think he's my favorite, but I actually really like all of my instructors. All of my classes have fun points. In German, something fun almost always come up and both the class and the GSI are pretty entertaining. Music Theory is always entertaining because of Professor Mead. The Great Books lecture can have some entertaining points, such as when Professor Cameron translates some of the occurences in the book into more obvious terms which are sometimes crude (you don't even want to know what he said about Circe and Odysseus). The Great Books GSI for my discussion allows the class to joke and have fun with it and she jokes as well. Jani is kinda funny in calc and the class jokes with him too. So I really have no dry, boring classes and no strict, boring, no-nonsense instructors. It's a good semester.

I made a prediction about which college Alecia is going to pick, but I'm not telling her or anyone else until she makes her final decision. I know Ryan is planning on SVSU and Ross is planning on CMU and Ronnie is planning to go to Delta, but I haven't heard anything about Hannah's, Ben's, or Isaiah's plans. Ben and Isaiah are still sophomores so they don't have to have plans, but Hannah's a senior and I don't even know where she's applying. My friends need to be better at keeping me in the loop. Most of the time I have to surgically remove information from them... except usually Ross.

Well, I'm off to Bible study at 9pm and then I don't know what I'll do. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight and sleep hard.

Rant is a strange word.

I hate to start on a sour note, but here I go anyway.

I am so ticked at my roommate, Rebecca. Stephanie (my other roommate) and I have become pretty good friends, but Rebecca just ticks both of us off. This morning I was sleeping nicely until Rebecca's alarm went of around 7:50. I thought, "Good, I still have an hour to sleep." That did not happen. Rebecca was very inconsiderate... slamming doors, dropping books on the floor, and making various other rather loud noises. I ended up turning off my alarm before it went off because I knew there wasn't going to be anymore sleeping that morning. So I was laying there, more than a little ticked, and it didn't help that she had just ticked me off 8 hours earlier when I was trying to go to sleep. As I was laying there, a seething pot of rage, I resolved not to get up until she left lest I, in my anger, resort to violence. I mean, who wants to go to jail for the rest of their life charged with 1st-degree murder? Actually, I'm fairly sure I would not have resorted to violence but I did not want to face the issue while I was so angry and risk saying something I might later regret. BUT then she blow-dried her hair in the room while I was in my bed trying to sleep!!! Ooh boy, was I enraged. She left and I stalked down from my loft, wide awake and irate. Not a minute later I heard someone unlocking the door. I thought, "Oh, that better not be Rebecca." Luckily, it was Stephanie. So, we've concluded that we'll have to talk to Rebecca about this issue.

Now for the good part of my day. We got our German tests back today. I got a 97% A+. Then in my Great Books discussion, the GSI moved the due-date for the Iliad paper back a week. So that made me happy.

I was so happy today because there were many new entries in people's blogs. It made my afternoon. Also, I think I've been spoiled by this high-speed connection.

I believe I will finish the Odyssey tonight. So far without my last quiz grade, my grade in Calc is around an A-, I think.

Once again there are more examples on my MSN of people's great outlooks on life (and also people's lovely grammar): "Taking a shower, maybe if I'm lucky I will drowned." First of all, it should either be "drown" or "be drowned", and secondly, why are you taking a shower at 8pm anyway?

Skillet's "A Little More" is a great song. I love it.

Dogs Die In Hot Cars

...so lets drive to Panama, lock Samson and Boone in the car, close the windows, and leave them there. No, I'm semi-kidding. Actually, I was listening to Launch and that was a name of one of the bands.

Today was cold. I could see my breath when I walked to my first class this morning. But when I was walking to my last class, the sky was blue and bright and clear and cloudless, the half moon was on my right, the sun was on my left, the bright green trees contrasted beautifully with the sky, and the air was crisp. It was very nice.

I had two tests today: one in German and one in Music Theory. The German test was over chapters 3 and 4, und sie war einfach (it was easy). It took me 30 minutes to finish. The Music Theory test was over everything we had learned so far, and it was open book (or open notes as is the case since we have no book). It wasn't difficult and I finished it in 35 minutes.

So some people just knocked on my door and asked if they could ask me some questions and observe me. The questions were weird and I probably got them wrong but, as they imformed me when it was done, they were looking to see which direction I would look when I was thinking of the answer. It was rather interesting. Then after they left they came back to ask me if I was right handed.

The window is now officially closed.

Today was very not productive, but I didn't need to be productive. I did a little... I read a book of the Odyssey and I'll probably read a couple more tonight. I watched Stargate... seriously, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed because I loved the show when it was on NBC at 7pm in the evening when I was in jr. high or something close to that, but then it disappeared. Now that I finally have access to it again I can't help but watch it and want to watch it because we were separated for so long. I had already seen the episode that was on tonight though.

Time goes so slow here. It feels like it's been a week since I talked to Ross but actually it was just yesterday. Today is only Tuesday... s l o w.

By the way, Mutzki wasn't on the list of dogs to lock in hot cars because he's just big and dumb... like Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Plus, the cat (Sausage!)beats him up.

My Face Hurts...

First of all, I'm annoyed that my post from yesterday that is supposedly published isn't showing up.

On a different note, I so got a B on the first draft of my first Great Books paper! I am quite happy about this because I was expecting much worse. Plus, I still get a rewrite, so this isn't even my final grade on the paper. Today was quite a relief.

Also, I'm annoyed that I realize that I made mistakes on my calc quizzes days after I take them. Why couldn't I see the mistakes before I hand it in???

I was having so much fun doing my calculus homework that I almost forgot to get supper before the cafeteria closed, and I totally forgot to watch Stargate. But then I saw that there were Stargates on back-to-back all night so I actually got to watch three episodes of Stargate. I would have kept watching it, but my roommate wanted to watch CSI, and I like CSI too, so... yeah.

My Sunday post finally showed up, so that is good.

So tell me what I should major or minor in and why. All serious suggestions are welcome.

...and post comments.

Febreeze, how I love thee.

People on my MSN messenger are not very... umm... happy, I guess the word would be. It ranges from the classic "Depressed" of Ryan's to the "I wish I would die" and the many variations of that that Patrick comes up with to Steve's "God hates me". Then there's always Andrew's "I'm an idiot" and Vanessa's "shoot me in the foot". Such an uplifting atmosphere!

Our window is stuck in the "on" position, and there's a very nice fall breeze coming in. Brian is currently messing with it.

I think I chose a good college. There's a list of the 357 best colleges and it gives an admissions selectivity rating from 60-99 where 99 is the most selective. U of M got a 98. One other college I had looked at, Grove City College, got a rating of 97. Grand Valley and Goshen didn't even make the list. MSU got a 90 and WVU got an 80. Calvin College got an 88, but other Michigan universities (Central, Eastern, Western, Northern, Cornerstone) didn't make the cut.

I need to make a list of what I'm going to get everyone for Christmas! I added up the maximum amount of money that I would spend on each person and the total was $520. Hmm... that's a lot of money. If I had a job where I made a crap-load of money, I would gladly spend a lot more than that total and I would buy Christmas presents for everyone I could ever think of. So far there are 32 individuals/couples on my list, and I'm considering adding more people. I love Christmas!

So, I was going to do something but I totally forgot. And then I just remembered one thing, but I don't know if that was the thing.

There are different expressions here that I've noticed. The one I think is just my one (NY) roommate's thing; she likes the word "mad" as in "that was mad cool". The other popular word is "definitely", and that is used a lot by Cru people... such as someone will make a comment and to agree, someone will say "definitely".

My mother has a habit of omitting the subject of her sentences in emails. For example, "Well will quit"... what is that supposed to mean? Also in her latest email, she said, "I don't know if you were planning on coming home this weekend but if you are we can't come get you." Thanks a lot, mom.

Lately I've been switching letters around in words a lot when I'm taking notes. It's annoying because then I have to erase.

I'm tired. I don't know if it's because I need more sleep or because I've been sleeping too much.

I went to the Union with Steph for supper and there was this guy a couple tables over that was randomly reading my shirt out loud (Senior AGS '04) and starting up a conversation with me about my shirt. His name is John.

The search for my future has brought me here.

I should be working on my calc or reading the Odyssey or studying my music theory or studying german... but I'm not. I'm sitting here at my computer doing none of the above.

My coins are nicely lined up on my desk under my lamp... my lamp which I turn on not so much for light but for heat. The lightbulb delivers a good amount of warmth, so much warmth that when the temperture would reach the high 70's or 80's, I would refrain from turning on my desk lamp. But now I turn it on often since the window is open and we can't close it. The coins are all lined up waiting for me to wash out the cool-shaped juice bottle that I emptied last night.

I read 5 books of the Odyssey today... after I got up sometime after noon. Last night I met these people from Switzerland, Germany, and Finnland. The guy from Finnland was cool... his name was Matthias (pronounced mat-thee-is).

Well, I think I will go get something done.

Yee Haw

I am psyched... or psycho...!!!! I got 19/20 on my first calc homework and 20/20 on my second calc homework!!! Ich bin glücklich. We had the second quiz today too and it wasn't hard, but, once again, I don't know how I did on it. Like the last quiz, one of the questions was exactly like one of the problems in the chapter review. Really, I've had two chapter tests in calc so far but they were only quizzes.

I've very behind in the Odyssey, but being behind in this book is not the same as being behind in the Iliad. I actually enjoy this book.

Tonight, I think I will be going to a barn dance. It's a Cru thing. There'll be sqare dancing and two-steppin'... yee-haw.

A day or two ago there was a cop casually riding the elevator up and down. It was weird.

My roommate's grandma was in here around 4pm. She was one of those cute old ladies... Vanessa knows what I'm talking about. But she was like, "which one is from Au Gres?" and Steph pointed to me and the grandma said that they have relatives in Au Gres... Hills, their cousins. Small world.

I went to the store in my dorm to buy a Sobe but they didn't have the good kind. It was disappointing. I almost bought a Snapple drink thing (I think that is what it was) but there were a lot of people in line so I didn't. Then I went back down and bought it. It tasted like apple juice but it was a milky pink color.

It's weird how old we're all getting. Lil' Ben and Isaiah are sophomores. Ross and Ryan are juniors... upperclassmen. Alecia, BethAnne, Hannah, and Ronnie are seniors... wow, they're old. Ronnie especially. ;) They will be graduating this year. Wow, that's incredible. Then there's me who graduated last year and is now a freshman in college... I practically have a foot in the grave. Leslie is in her second year of college. I can't wait until I can go to y'all's graduations. I'll be all sentimental and get you nice little cards and graduation presents.

*****

Ok, so it's midnight and a half... a few hours after I wrote the stuff above. I just got back from the barn dance. It was fun. I would've liked to dance more. I like country dancing better than the dumb stuff people do at high school dances. The barn dance made me not hate country music anymore.