School

School.
homework, class, homework

class, homework, paying attention

homework, paying attention, frustration

paying attention, frustration, wolfram alpha

frustration, wolfram alpha, cake

wolfram alpha, cake, sleep

cake, sleep, dream?

sleep dream, love

dream?, love, calculus...?

love, calculus...?, pray

calculus, pray, friends

pray, friends, fun

friends, fun, nerdy

fun, nerdy, Mines

nerdy, Mines, yeah

Mines, yeah, difficulty

yeah, difficulty, no time

difficulty, no time, Lagrange multiplyers

no time, Lagrange multipliers, panic

Lagrange multipliers, panic, solve

panic, solve, crash

solve, crash, laptop battery dying

crash, laptop battery dying, bleh econ

battery dying, bleh econ, give up

bleh econ, give up, write

give up, write, life

write, life, school

life, school, sleep
school

Science Nerd Writes: Cookies, and a front page article

Alright, I've forgotten to do this, but here's a few of my more interesting articles the past few weeks:

"Excuse Epidemic Sweeps Campus" 10/07/12

I go to Mines. 'Nuff said.

"Experiences in 151 as told by Fred Fresh, ‘18" 10/29/12

This idea came out of Small Group. We talked about making cookies an EPICS project, then an NHV lecture, where cookies are the stakeholder. 

"SHPE's Noche inspires young students" 10/29/12

So...this is the first article I've written that I made the front page. Pretty stoked about that. Plus, it's awesome in itself that they decided to put SHPE on the front page. Woo, go us!

25% Reflection

The passing of Fall Break means we're about half-wayish done with the semester.

Fall Break was great. The first part (Friday through Sunday) was my second Fall Conference. I can't really say which was better, because I just felt it was perfect for what I need right now. I need reflection, which is not hard to do when you are up in the mountains with an hour dedicated to meditating while on a snow-covered bleacher. I need direction, which is more complicated and only comes from God. Or rather, it should. And rest and friends and good times playing whiffleball were extra. 

The second part was great as well. I got like eleven hours of sleep each night in my comfy bed in my own room. I got to relax with family and do homework. It was good.

It's been a great semester, it really has. It hasn't been particularly difficult, although I know more difficult times are ahead. I just feel...content. I do homework, and I'm happy I get to do this under the big M. I'm constantly busy learning, working, making time to hang out with friends, helping out younger friends, and just taking in the awesome while not letting the difficult haunt me. Or trying not to. And yes, I do sleep.

I need to continue to work on my time-management. I need to find an internship. I need to work on being healthier. I need to figure out if I want to pick up a minor. And I'd like to make some strange but awesome random memories. And maybe meet more people. And not be satisfied, constantly pushing forward. 

Yeah, let's do that. 

Red Bull and Conquer

Remember this stuff!

"Every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something." 
~ Nolan Ryan

I think I'm getting used to it: being a Sophomore. I'm past the shock and differences between freshman year. Yeah, the classes are harder. I'm used to homework being infinite, whereas I would have been stressed out about just homework as a freshman. Hard tests don't hurt anything besides my head anymore. I've formed new friendships and stronger legit study groups for particular subjects. I'm getting to know people in my major, and they're pretty neat.

Yeah, I miss some things, like taking all the same classes and coming back to Digger Den to talk about it after an exam. I miss the accessibility of friends: just being able to go across the hall if I'm bored, or hearing Brady yell, "Saaaaa-raaa!" from down the hall even if we were doing homework. I miss "study breaks" in Maple, including throwing socks with Rebecca and Rima. I miss being innocent and not having to worry about the future as much. 

But not all change is bad, and not everything changes. I have to try and meet with old friends, but we talk about the same things. Everyone has the same quirks. (Brandon still gets up randomly and walks down the hall and forgets what he went down the hall for.) Mines is still hard. We still get through it. Time passes just as quickly. 

New friends are awesome. New challenges are good. And life goes on.

I'm trying to conquer physics this semester. (It's kinda crazy how I'm five-sixths of the way done with general physics here at Mines...) Anyway, it's the same but different. This semester the Physics Department isn't out to screw us, as proven with the biggest curve on a physics exam in the history of life. It's different for me a little: I still love physics, but I feel it is more conquerable this semester. That if I study hard it will actually pay off. I feel I have something to prove, with Physics II being related to my major. So I studied and studied for this circuits exam, which they generally say is the easiest, but prepared to score terribly without a curve. 

I studied with a few guys from The Stoop (one of the baseball houses) over the weekend, and Brandon gave me a Red Bull right before the test. Last year I would have declined, but I have found recently that Red Bull "increased performance, especially during times of increased stress...increases concentration and reaction speed..." blah blah blah. In short, I've did alright on the Calc exam while on Red Bull, so why not add it to my pre-test routine? I got my gum, my lucky pencils, and I was ready. Before the exam, I made an analogy of acing a physics test to throwing a no-hitter, which in turned apparently jinxed any likelihood of me getting an A. But during the exam, I tried to reach down into my weird brain, trying to prove  physics can be conquered. 

I'm sure some peeps conquered physics, I'm sure some were conquered. But for me, it was just the 6th of 8 physics exams I'll ever take, and by far the least difficult. 

Nothing's been proven yet....War is still on, physics. 

Weekend in the Life

Thursday:
Woke up at 7 to go to Chuck Stone's lecture during which women were referred to as "wanting to control all the voltage".
Identified minerals and rocks subjectively during 205 lab with Matt from 9-12.
Met Sara at Sherpa house and stayed past 1 during which Calc would've happened.
Tried to do Calc homework. Finished one problem.
Listened to how bad the physics test was and talked about it.
Had a meeting for IV.
Listened again to how bad the physics test was.
Arrived late to horticulture club: helped dig holes and weed.
Talked to Chuck Stone about physics and names with Marvin.
Arrived late to Brown w/ Marvin
Ordered Buffalo Wild Wings
Went and picked them up with John and KC
Ate them.
Watched John play the piano, played the piano for the first time in a while.
Started physics homework with Marvin, KC, and John.
Read email out loud to the guys.
Email said Physics got curved.
Started yelling.
Heard other people yelling too.
Went and found Clinton and peeps and massive celebrations erupted
Ran through Brown yelling
Started physics homework.
Replied to Lon Capa email.
Read Chuck Stone's reply.
Almost fell asleep,but figured it out with the guys.
Went home.
Wrote this.
Fell asleep at 1:30.

Friday:
8:30 AM, waking up in the morning, (can't have my bowl, can't have cereal).
Ran to Intro to Geophysics.
High-fived Shane because we got the same score on the physics test.
Tried not to fall asleep during landslides lecture.
Tried not to fall asleep during Econ recitation. 
Went to Starbucks in Brown with Rima; espresso and chai were gone; ended up with a free frappuccino.
Went to DiggerDen and watched Youtube videos and helped Rebecca with this one problem.
Went to Society of Student Geophysicists meeting, ate Subway, and met a new freshie in GP.
Read Switzer's email about "a calculus guardian angle peeking over your shoulder" and went to math.
Got new assignments for studio groups. 
Had another meeting, got out late.
Went to Rockies game, watched Rockies not throw strikes, watched fireworks show afterwards. 
Lingered at the field after reminded by Jason that it'd probably be my last game.
Went home and crashed.

Saturday:
Woke up late.
Pretended to do homework.
Made lunch.
Cleaned room.
Pretended to do homework.
Went up to Lockridge Arena to work the volleyball game.
Went home and made Rice-a-Roni; had dinner with Rima. 
Studied in Brown. 
Studied at EP. 
Crashed. 

Sunday:
Woke up super early and went to Brown to study; Starbucks was not open, to my dismay.
Did Calc for forever.
Got Subway for lunch with Rima and sat outside. 
Lollygagged for a half-hour. 
Studied for Geology with Rosie, Matt, and Lee. 
Ate dinner.
Did Small Group IV stuff.
Went back to Brown. 
Kinda did Econ. 
Went back to EP; did laundry; prepared for Humans vs. Zombies. 

What a life I lead.