Whinge and six months' update

[lhexa]

Okay, to get the complaining over first: I really didn't expect the summer laboratory course to be this hard. Now, however, I know that it basically means writing an 1800-word essay every week for eleven weeks, when I'm not writing two in a week. My latest lab report, which I just finished writing, weighs in at 14 pages and 4000 words, without raw data. And at UTD they don't even let you play with the liquid nitrogen, like they did at Chicago.

I do plan to get back to writing about writing, and'll take my Sundays off to do that, except for a few hours spent on lab reports; splitting those up over several days is the only way to make them manageable. Since it's going really slowly, I'll probably keep up this summer project well into next winter. Anyway, this post isn't related to that. I've come to accept that an email I've been intending to write isn't going to get written, and Livejournal is, after all, a decent way of keeping people updated on my life. So here are the last six months, condensed:

I quit my job at UPS in January, mainly out of frustration at being frequently moved away from the task I somewhat enjoyed (sorting) to one I hated (loading). This year I'm getting financial aid, though, so I'm not facing any sort of crisis. I'm also earning small amounts of money tutoring people in physics, which is nice, because it brings me more money (hourly) than any job I've yet worked, and strengthens my own knowledge in the process.

The spring semester, which consisted of eighteen credit hours split seven ways, was very good. The second-semester general chemistry professor was a veritable hippie whose syllabus included words like "reviewage" and "spring breakage." The chemistry lab was useful, but I wisened up to the grading of the reports too late, so it was my lowest grade (a B+). The second-lowest grade (A-; the rest were A or A+) was in cosmology, which I really didn't give the attention it deserved. If you want the latest news in contemporary physics, by the way: the expansion of the universe is accelerating, and everyone's baffled. The electronics class was useful, though not very interesting, aside from the revelation that (exact) integration and differentiation can be done by circuit components. The associated lab was the same: useful, with some high points, but not interesting overall. The english class (I want to take a non-math, non-science course every semester, for balance; it wasn't a required one) was fun, and the professor managed to hold my attention for the entire two-and-a-half hour sessions; the only thing I didn't like about it was the obscurity of many of the readings. Also, I think the professor was too lenient in grading my essays, or set his standards too low. Finally, there was the best course of the semester, multivariable calculus. The professor for this one was masterful, giving every lecture entirely without notes while answering questions with ease. The tests were all challenging, and the teacher presented far more advanced material than he had to. I did, however, overhear one person describing the experience of trying to understand his lectures as having blood pour out of her ears.

This summer there's the "physical measurements lab," which is really a potpourri of experiments, along with a required government class, which has ended already. Next semester, which I'm really looking forward to, will be twenty credit hours divided among two math classes, three physics classes (one of them graduate-level), and a history class. I also just learned that tuition doesn't increase after the fifteenth credit hour, so I think I'm going to make my last semester (whose grades don't matter for graduate school) quite insanely busy. My plans have changed again, by the way: I'm going to graduate school in physics, not engineering. It'll be several months before I start applying; first I have to take various GREs.

I've resumed studying Kung Fu, at the school I used to go to, but I'm going back through the belts in order. I think I'll be back at my prior fitness in about a month (in strength, if not endurance), and just recently I've gotten back to the stage where doing a form well is a rush of pleasure. It's definitely good to be doing this again. Aside from the schizophrenia, the reason I stopped is because I felt I couldn't give Kung Fu the attention it deserves, but I've since reasoned that objection away.

I've recently gotten very involved with the local furry population, attending meets and such. The main personages are fuzzwolf (a great host), teirandragon, khyle and dook, celyddon, guardlion, and a number of others, all of them good company. I've really come to appreciate how much good this has done me emotionally. On a related note, I recently attended my first furry convention (Anthrocon), roomed with yomatsuri, met eredien and (briefly) apanthropomorph (I'm grateful for LJ tags here, because I'm often not sure what names to use). I was very pleased to find artwork of a fisher, even if it was in a piece called the "Alphabet of Obscure Animals." No offense intended to all the people I met and had fun with there, but the best part of the convention was time spent alone, watching all the people there, feeling a steady happiness that this is the world in which I live.

That's all I care to relate. Expect the next entry having any direct description of my life to appear in about six months.

Comments

[raki.livejournal.com]

Well, that's been a while coming...

[talec18415.livejournal.com]

No offense intended to all the people I met and had fun with there, but the best part of the convention was time spent alone, watching all the people there, feeling a steady happiness that this is the world in which I live.

I think I know what you mean; I love sitting back and watching the convention-goers wander about and live.

[wickedorin.livejournal.com]

It's nice to hear you're doing well. Hell, it's nice to hear from you at all, but wellness is most appreciated.

...Now to get those games back to you. *cough*

[guardlion.livejournal.com]

Yo! We're glad to have you around. :-)

[lhexa.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. :)

If you don't mind me asking, you've had me on your friends list for a long time, but I don't have any sense of who you are. Er, who are you?

[lhexa.livejournal.com]

Not 'til you finish them.

[talec18415.livejournal.com]

I was on Draconic in 2001-2002, as Talec; I remember we interacted at least once, and I always liked your and Dw's conversations. ^^

[lhexa.livejournal.com]

Ah, I think I remember you.