The Dust Does Settle

Maybe, just maybe this semester won't kill me. It's hard to believe we'll be starting the third week already, but I guess that's when things start to calm down.

Before the semester started, I was torn because I never wanted to start up again yet wanted to get this Junior Fall semester, the most difficult in Geophysics I might add, over with as soon as possible. Then I didn't want it to be over with as soon as possible because then that would mean the speed of time would have accelerated, and Graduation Day would have come in a blink of an eye. Now that the semester started, I was torn again. I honestly enjoyed the first couple of weeks, except for the part when I was in Green Center 215 having no idea what's going on. I actually felt like a normal college student, getting around 7 hours of sleep each night and enjoying activities outside of schoolwork. Yet the combination of new classes and meetings and so many events with free food during Mines Welcome Week frazzled me and I came torn between having fun and having (relatively) easy homework and having a routine again (and probably getting less hours of sleep).

Like I can control time or something. The dust settles anyway.

Maybe the semester will kill us all, maybe it'll be the best ever...who knows? ( And why not both?)

So here's to having a routine again and for the next two years of our lives. As for getting 4 hours of sleep, screw that.

Here's an unrelated photo of some sunflowers and Mt. Zion.
Yeah. I got tired of typing words and figured a picture is worth 1,000. 

I'm Already Dying...

I suppose I should offer an explanation on why I haven't written this semester yet, even though it is the third week of school. But I don't want to, so there.

Honestly, I guess I'm okay. Maybe.

Maybe not. But probably.

I can feel how terrible and horrendous of a decision 18.5 credits consisting of 6 classes will be. I knew it'd be awful, but if it's like this with just homework going on and not even exams....

God help me.

The mornings are okay. I hate getting up to see the sun rise, so I wake up 20 minutes after. My first two classes are interesting, but I'm just so tired because of the earliness and the fact that it's two straight hours of programming (Java and Matlab). Then Linear Algebra happens and sometimes I don't even know what we're talking about. But it wakes me up. My other classes are great and interesting as well. I love learning.

But then after classes and the meetings and places I need to be due to extracurricular stuff or just meeting with people, the homework comes. And as much as I've attempted to not procrastinate, homework continues to prove its infiniteness and complexity.

Okay, maybe it's not that bad. I totally like school. Imagine if I was doing nothing right now, wouldn't I want to go back to school? But I forget the emotional terror after each semester. A coping mechanism, I guess.

It was a rough first half of the week, I guess. It's not over, our first EPICS project is due Friday. I've been in the process of applying to REUs (research experience for undergraduates), so that's on my plate as well. I had to finish a couple personal statements last night, and that took me 'til 4a.m. No big deal, I've stayed up later than that. But never with 8a.m. class the next day. Due to insomnia and other terrible factors and caffeine, I couldn't fall asleep til like 5. So I got like 2.5 hours of sleep.

I feel like I'm gonna die now, although I really want to work on Java (it's a fun class). I just feel weird. Yeah, I'm gonna go to bed before I start twitching.

Pure Madness

Three possible straight semesters of 18 credit hours. As opposed to two straight with 16. What drives a person to such self-infliction? Madness, I say.

Its contrast: astounding. How quickly my once free hours become occupied now that I have more class to prepare for and attend! The material: intriguing. I don't mind sitting down and focusing for hours on end, and begin academic and such. My hours spent sleeping in class comes out to a grand total of zero. My notes: as extensive as ever. The professors: quite the characters, from Humphrey getting whoa! excited about sea level changes to Switzer and the darndest things he says, including showing us absurd Youtube videos in class, leaving us to ponder "wut?!" Young is the coolest, but of course he is, being the department head of the coolest major on campus. Flammer is cool, and normal (as opposed to the other physics II professor....so I hear). And Houser is just Houser, and it's just economics after all. And I suppose I must mention me being the nerdiest and most unathletic of the students in volleyball class, glasses crooked and everything.

My free hours (minutes)? Nonexistent, for the most part. If there is time, then there is time to do homework. Time spent sleeping: reasonable, with 7 to 8 hours every night.

I long for quiet time sometimes, away from the people and their noises. Maybe a nap on a hill or by the creek. Where frantic pleas for help on physics won't reach me. Grumbles about lack of sleep don't carry. Meals aren't crying to be made, or rather my stomach not crying for food. And I can hear myself think, for I have forgotten to think, but rather move before the madness overtakes me and my futile attempts to stay ahead become for naught as the exams cloud my nightmares.

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.