Rite of Passage

Oh my goodness. In the midst of getting used to college life again, Mines has seemingly placed me in an illusion so that time warps and passes twice as quickly, even though I am awake for more hours in the day (16 as opposed to 12ish). But it's been good. I know it's only the third week, but I have tried to not let myself fall into the traps I did during the first part of last semester, such as goofing off and not doing homework. Instead, I go to Calculus and sit down in the front like a good little nerd and pull out my binder and take notes. No talking or making fun of mustard socks or falling asleep. In fact, in all my classes it is impossible to surf the internet on my laptop or fall asleep without being noticed. Which is good.

I suppose the level of business I had the last few weeks of last semester has carried on to the first part, all because I want it to. It's okay that I have to stay up until 2a.m. because I am actually doing homework. Crazy, I know, but I learned last semester that studying the night before the test and only the night before the test isn't a great strategy, especially for the "easy classes". So here I am, and I am busy again, and never bored, and life is good.

Again, I will offer the disclaimer that this is only week 3. But man, does it feel so good to get my Physics homework done before the weekend. And a bit more satisfying when others agree with you that it was better than Chem (cough, cough, geophysics majors). Or when the power goes out the day before it's due (whew!). The kids who took it last semester say "You will see, young one,....(something about it sucking and I will hate it, much like I have lectured on EPICS)". And then I accept the challenge with the most accepty-ness.

I agree, getting red boxes on Lon-Capa sucks. But it doesn't make me want to throw my laptop out the window. I wish everyone would try to keep a positive attitude about Physics, because the way I see it: the more tries you've spent, the sweeter it is when you finally get that green box.

See, doesn't just looking at that picture make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? This weekend I was pretty stoked about finishing my homework early again so I sought to save others from the red box. My white board diagram for MissileDefense.problem was sick (I think it's still up there.) Forget TV, watching kid's eyes light up to the green box is priceless.

The kid across the hall has this awful drink that he decided to buy on whim, and almost all of us on First Floor North have tried it, at least the cool people anyway. It's this awful molasses gross slimy liquid that was supposed to be some sort of malt thing...I don't even know. It's our rite of passage almost, but it's pretty disgusting.

Three weeks in, and almost all freshman have now experienced Physics and Lon-Capa, and what it really means to get a colored box- a feeling we only imagined before as friends told tales of getting them. But here we are. And any given Sunday night, if you listen quietly, you can hear a student do a green box happy dance somewhere in Golden. It's an awesome feeling.