I'm an Ent!

You tend to be very set in your ways and hard to change, though this makes you also very loyal to those whom you are around the most. When someone offers a suggestion, you tend to mull over it for a period of time before finally saying "let's not be hasty." You also think that anything worth saying, must be worth taking a long time to say it in, some might call it long-windedness, others just call it much ado over nothing. You like to say "hoom" a lot and have an attraction to burritos.

Anyway, I probably shouldn't even be writing an entry since I promised myself I would get to bed by 8:00 and it's already 8:20, but I can't help it :~(

This morning I attended the Engineering Design class and halfway through a shrill whistling began to sound throughout the building and the fire alarm light was blinking red. The professor stopped and turned around wondering what is was and stared blinking at the light for a couple of seconds and then said that he was pretty sure it wasn't a drill, we should probably get out. I wasn't rushed though, I don't mind being the last one out and I didn't feel the building was going to collapse any second, there wasn't a raging inferno outside the door and there was no smoke. I glanced toward the other exit in the room but everyone was filing down the ramp and out the exit at the back, taking quite a long while to do so, I guess they weren't hurried either! I was behind the professor and yet before we were out, the beeping stopped. He waited a few seconds and then proceeded to call everyone back in, I was already back in my seat while they came grumbling back inside. I guess it was a good wakeup call at 8:30 for some of them!

I saw my TA in the classroom so while everyone was filing back in, I asked him about my papers that had been graded. He glanced at them and said "geez, that is why I not let this guy grade papers last semester. He has a record man." He took them with him for regrading. I was pleased because I really like Julius and as the professor said, Julius will bend over backwards to help the students out, the only complaint he's had is that Julius tends to give more information than some students want (and that's true, he rambles on a long time at the beginning of class).

Afterwards was my Calculus class, I was handed back my first homework and I had a 12/12, so I was happy. I don't know exactly why it was worth 12 points but it was. Curious.

Then was the Physics lab, I got almost everything done there, I'll just have to work out a few more calculations. We were calculating vectors, first by experimental -there was a large dial with degrees on it and different weights pulling strings from the center and we needed to put it in equilibrium. Well, I couldn't wait for that so I did a few quick calculations and then set it up instead of experimenting.

We weighed out the balances to the tenth of a gram and then put them on there and my weight and angle were exactly correct, then we compared experimental, graphical (just measuring distances on a ruler with a graph) and analytical methods. I tried to be very careful and exact with all of my measurements (and I had a good lab partner by the way, who didn't seem to know much but was willing to do the experiments). All of the different methods I was within 0.1 degrees and 0.1 grams, which is pretty good for all three to be that close! Other people were within a couple of grams, or a couple of degrees. Being meticulous pays off sometimes I guess, not that I'll get any more points on the lab but hey! I care at least!

The TA (that I told about last week) is pretty nice, though he definitely tries to rule the lab, which is funny because he's rather short. He was talkign with some students in the back, trying to understand their slang. He asked them if they needed any help and they said "No, we're all set!" He stood there puzzled for a little while and then said "set?" You mean "sit?" And they tried to explain to him what it was (I could hear the conversation in the background while doing my calculations) and telling him it was when you were ready to go etc. So the TA then barks out (to the whole class)
"So! Is everybody set?!"
And people laughed and said yes. Later he tried it again but he asked "So are you all sitting?" which was kind of funny in itself. I told him that slang, or English in general was very strange in some points and that though I've lived here all my life, I still have trouble understanding what some people mean by phrases! I was trying to encourage him but he seems determined to learn this American slang. Another one is lost. *sigh*

Although I shouldn't be saying that, my grammar is not perfect by any means.

Then was the Computer Science class, by this time (from 8:00 to 12:30) I was starting to feel the effects of getting up at six and staying up until 11:00 the past week. It's just that I had done school during the day and when I finally felt like I had done "enough" for the day, I wanted to read Hodge's book still and well, staying up late reading because you "don't feel tired" at the time, doesn't mean you won't feel tired in the morning! And then Sunday evening I have certain online responsibilities and when you get home at 10:00 anyway..... then six every morning.

And now I'm wasting time that I said today that I'd be sleeping in. Oh well.

So anyway, I was feeling a little light-headed and having a hard time focusing on the teacher (kind of like I'm having a hard time focusing on the keyboard right now, pardon me if my fingers wander and I type all sorts of nonsense or "their" instead of "there" or some equally hideous error) but made it through class. Then this afternoon I felt like lying down for a time but needed to get the circuit design done. I was still surprised that even though I'd contacted my team members last Saturday, I've gotten no response from them, that's like... three days! So I ended up doing it myself, which is fine, it just would have been nice to have some other ideas, and I drew it up on the computer today and finished the proposal. That's the last pressing thing that is due this week, so I'm "free" until next Monday, though I'd certainly better get working on some of these big projects that are coming up next week. I say "big projects" but I just mean things like Calculus homework (this last week it was big) and the program that I'm supposed to write etc.

I've notified my team members of certain responsibilities that I wanted them to take care of before they came to class on Tuesday, we'll see what happens, I may just have to do the research on that part myself too :-/

And then I had told Julius that I'd meet him at his office hour this evening, from 6-10 it is, I was planning on going at 6 but the circuit and proposal took until 6:20 to finish printing so I went out a little late. In the meanwhile I got an e-mail from Boromir inviting me to come to the basketball game that evening, which I declined just because I was so busy.

So I went to the engineering labs, talked with Julius about my drawings and he gave me a 96.5/100 instead of a 90/100, which I felt was a little more fair and the points that I had taken off I do feel I deserved after he explained it to me. I really, really appreciated his being there and telling me little tips to help me do better, because that's what I wanted. That's why I had gone to the professor beforehand and asked his opinion on my drawings as well! Then I showed him my new ones for this week and he said it would be better if they were larger and he showed me how to do that on the computer when they were printed out, so I spent a while printing out my drawings again (I had them on my jumpdrive thankfully) though one of them I apparently hadn't saved, so I just redrew it. And it did turn out better the second time so that's good, and I learned a few more tricks and am becoming more familiar with the program.

Don't mind me as I ramble, I'm in something of a trance right now....

Afterwards, well, I was driving really close to where I assumed the basketball game would be so I did drop by and said hello to everyone. I timed it just right too, I hit halftime. The boys were playing and I believe had a score of 31 to 12 when I got there. "Our" team was winning, which I was glad for. I heard that the girls won as well and Daisy herself scored four points! That's certainly four more points than I would make!

Then I excused myself and headed home. Tired, happy (at finishing the drawings) and slightly hungry. Speaking of which, there is a burrito in the microwave that I put in there at the start of this post. It's probably cold by now, oh well. Good night!