Emi's Journal

Let’s see….
I survived round 1 of midterms. Three of them. A, A, and A. I’m very happy.

What else? Oh yeah! I started work last week! It’s not bad. It’s going well. I’m learning. And I’ve handled some basic stuff. I even had my very own ticket. :p

Let’s see… Dad’s Weekend was last weekend. My dad came down on Friday, with Kento. We went to the FW Club pig roast. Good food. :p Then I went home with them. On Saturday we didn’t do much… Well, we watched the entire Back to the Future trilogy. I guess that’s something. :p
Saturday night Kento’s AC adapter broke…. While in my computer. So that rendered my computer unusable… With a piece of metal stuck in the AC port.
Sunday we went to my grandma’s/ My dad and I cleaned out all the pumpkins, and I carved this beauty here….

My grandma helped. She did the whiskers and ears. And made the nose more domed. Because I just did it as a triangle.
Now the teeth are kind of falling off, but I think it will last until tomorrow. That’s what matters.

Today I got to work an hour early… I fell victim to DST. Stupid daylight savings. I don’t like it.
I took my computer to the Mac Store after chemistry today. I talked to an Apple rep over the phone yesterday who said a technician would have to fix it. I brought it to COSINe and Mark thought the port was damaged…. At the Mac Store the lady stuck a magnetized paperclip in and told me I was good to go. One third party AC adapter later and I’m happy again.
I also went to the library…. That was pushing it time-wise, but I did it anyway. I got a couple books. And a card. That’s a good thing.

Oh yeah, and one more thing about Dad’s Weekend… WE WON!!!!!! Unranked OSU beat unbeaten #3 USC. How, I have not the slightest idea. It’s a mystery to me, but we did it, and that’s what matters. Take that, guy that does The Fuse on the Eugene FOX affiliate!

Snagging from Demyx who snagged it from someone else…. It’s a snagging chain!

THE STUPID TEST (multiply your score by 3)
[x] I have walked into a glass/screen door.
[x] I have tripped on my shoelace and fallen on my face.
[x] I have choked on my own spit.
[] I’ve seen the Matrix a bunch of times and still don’t get it.
[] I type only with my pointer fingers.
[] I have accidently caught something on fire.
[] I’ve told a cop to freck off and gotten screwed for it.
[x] I attempted to sip out of a straw but it accidently went into my nose, rather than my mouth.
[x] Sometimes when I think of something funny, I laugh out loud and people look at me weird.
[x] I’ve caught myself drooling.
[] I’ve accidently caused an explosion.
[x] If someone says the word “fart”, I cant help but laugh.
[] I’ve turned into a “do not enter” one way road plenty of times.
[x] Sometimes I just stop thinking & zone out.
[] It is POSSIBLE to lick your elbow.
[] I just tried to lick my elbow.
[x] People often shake their heads and walk away from me.
[x] People often tell me to use my “inside voice”.
[x] Gum has fallen out of my mouth while talking.
[x] I’ve used my fingers to do simple math.
[x] I’ve jumped off a moving vehicle.
[] I ate a bug for $5 or less.
[x] I’m taking this test when I should be doing something more important.
[] I repost chain letters because I’m scared of what they threaten will happen if I don’t.
[] I’ve done something really stupid while I was drunk.
[] I’ve ran around naked when I was drunk.
[] I’ve ran into a golfcart tire when I was drunk.
[x] I’ve searched all over the place for something, and then realized it was in my hand the whole time.
[x] I accidently break a lot of things.
[x] My friends know not to use big words around me.
[x] My friends like me because I’m fun to laugh at.
[x] I move my head to the side when I’m confused.
[x] Sometimes I start telling a story and suddenly forget what I’m talking about.
[x] I’ve fallen out of my chair before.
[x] When I’m laying in bed, I sometimes stare at the ceiling and try to find pictures and words in the texture.
TOTAL SCORE [22]

66% stupid? Oh dear. Some of those things were borderline…. I haven’t walked through a screen, but I’ve tried to push my cat through the screen (she wasn’t going outside!). Also I decided my AC adapter incident in Japan didn’t count for explosion or fire since they weren’t really my fault.

I finished my sociology note sheet. I’m so happy. I feel like doing a little dance. Except that I really don’t. But I’m so glad I finished it! Now I’m feeling really good about the test. I kind of was before too, but now I wont feel bad about not having a complete note sheet (see a few posts back ).

Oh, and I felt like I needed something to do *ha* so I read my old LJ entries. Good times… Good times…
A few things I noticed though. Some stuff I failed to mention.

For example, that second dog…. Paj? We returned her a few weeks later. Evil dog…. Pure evil. Attacked my mom, ran away, taught Ret to run away, picked on Ret…. Gr. So she went back.
Hmm… What else did I notice? I already forgot. Well, Storm, the fish I got, he died… At the library which basically became his home.
Also I didn’t say anything about the Depoe Bay trip with FW Club…. The trip was incredibly 100% awesome! Whale watching, we saw a ton! The first annual pirate treasure hunt in Depoe Bay on the day we went… Good stuff! And the aquarium was awesome too! Feeding the sharks, seeing the top of Passages of the Deep, seeing the coconut crab that wasn’t on display yet, and being near the harbor seal pup being rehabilitated (we didn’t see it, but we walked by where it was). All good stuff.
And… Oh yeah, I also didn’t mention the fundraising meeting I went to for FW club, though in my last post I did mention grants. Basically because no one was volunteering to do it I got convinced to try grant writing. This is all insane, but I said I’d give it a shot… And now I’m also looking up grants that might be good (which goes back to my mom looking up stuff).

So that’s a bit of filling in the gaps. Now I have a midterm in the morning so bed might be a good idea.

Tonight was great.

We had a floor meeting tonight, and of course I went. While waiting for it to start (and walking there, actually) I was talking to Sarah, who lives right down the hall. She was saying she had somewhere to go at 8:00… And I got curious, since I knew Campus Crusade is at 8:00 on Wednesdays. Turns out that was it!
So I asked if I could walk over there with her. I’m not one to really want to walk in the dark, so I had planned not to go tonight (and also midterms tomorrow). But since she was going, I decided to.
At 7:30 there was a fire drill, so we went outside… I had grabbed my stuff thinking we could leave right after, which we did.
I’m really glad I went. Turns out there’s a “community group” (small group) that meets on my floor, so I’m going to plan to start going to that. Also Sarah and I can walk over to the main meeting Wednesday night together, which makes me happy. I’m not a fan of the dark, and I don’t really want to be out on my own at night. It’s not far, but still… We’re planning for same time next week.
Also, I was talking to someone, and we were just talking about stuff, and she asked if I had any siblings… So I said an older brother, and laughed when I realized I was saying he’s 18… Not because that’s funny, but because probably most of the people in there were at least 18. So then I got to tell the whole why I’m in college at 15 stuff.

Now I suppose I should get back to studying… My brain is bogged down with sociology. One entire sheet of notes (double sided) is insane for a test…. But if I can, I will. I think I’m almost done with it now, so that makes me very very happy. Chemistry I’m not worried about at all. And that’s in the evening anyway.

Oh, and in other news, I’m officially signed up for the spring break trip with FW Club. Sorry NCC! I can’t pass up a trip to Belize!
Well, hopefully. We’re working on it.
And if you ever ask my mom about something…. Or even suggest something, be warned: you’ll get a lot. My mom started looking up grants for us, and I think I’ll be kept busy just sorting through them… Wow! I may have more than three to write up… Yikes.
All is good though. If we can get a few grants I think we’ll be doing good.

And also… Umm… There was something else…
Oh yeah! Interview! I have an interview on Friday for a job at the computer help desk. Which would be great.

I love e-mail. It’s the best. It really is.

I basically started laughing when I read my e-mail today…. I’m sorry that my professor is sick, but I can’t hide my relief….. SOC midterm has been postponed to Thursday!!!!!!

Time to pick myself up and get back on the road.

All this term I’ve been saying it’s a light term, and really it is. But this week I seem to have been tossed into a dust devil. Not a tornado, not a funnel cloud, but a dust devil, that fits.

I have my SOC midterm tomorrow morning. Getting my 8.5×11 sheet ready for that…. I wont get all the info I want on there. I should have started it long ago. But I didn’t. 8.5×11? That’s insane anyway.
Tomorrow afternoon I have a math quiz. This in itself shouldn’t be bad, as long as the numbers are legible this time… *It looked like 20.5!* Anyway, I am way back in 5.3 in terms of homework though… Non-graded homework, darn it. It makes me lax about it. *We’re studying 5.6 right now* The trig midterm is next Tuesday evening. I’ll need to get a note card ready for that… At least this one I can do on the computer.
Chemistry test on Thursday. Chemistry is the one class I seem to be doing OK in…. Wait, reading…. That I’m not OK in…. Darn reading…. Chemskillbuilders are fine though, as are worksheets.
FOOTsteps, well, that’s basically impossible to get behind in. We have two assignments, one of which I already turned in and the other is to be done by Wednesday (it’s just a paragraph about a club anyway, and I am probably more than qualified to wrote that now…. ). FW orientation hasn’t had any assignments due yet, though one will be due next Tuesday…. So those two are fine, but it’s hard not to be fine with something like that.

So I’m in a bit of a dust devil here. I don’t think any of it is detrimental to me doing well… Did I just make up a word there, or can I not spell? Oh, I just can’t spell. Good, because I was sure that detrimental is a word.
Anyway, I think I’ll just need to buckle down for the next week or so and get caught up. I think I’m doing OK, but I should be doing better… I can, so I should be. I can, so I will. It may be a little hectic getting there, but I don’t think it’ll be too bad. I’ll be beating myself up for whatever score I get on the SOC midterm because whatever it ends up being, it would probably be better if I did a better job on my note sheet, but whatever.

You live, you learn. Hopefully I’ll get on top of things and keep on top of it so I can keep it a nice light term.

My locals are messed up.
Actually it seems like my cable in general is. I checked everything, it’s all in OK…. But half my channels are fuzzy almost to unrecognizable levels… My locals are shuffled or don’t come in at all. Channel 3 which is supposed to be my Eugene NBC affiliate is coming in as FOX, but is coming in with perfect clarity. One of the few channels to do that.

Oh…
I’m dumb.
My VCR was on.

I probably shouldn’t bother to post this now, but whatever.

So yesterday I finally went over to the climbing center. I had been once before (climbing there, that is), at Rec Night, but hadn’t made it in to get certified to belay.
I was hoping one of my trip leaders would be doing it, but no such luck. Ty was there, but as a climber, not a staff member. Dustin too.
So I got to go through the whole thing. The harness, the knot, the belay device, belaying…. All that good stuff. It’s a shame I already knew it all.
So it took a while to get through, since some of the others struggled a bit. That’s perfectly understandable, but I didn’t like waiting.

Finally I got certified, and then got the great task of finding someone to belay me. That’s the trouble of not knowing a lot of people yet…. But one of the guys from the certification group belayed me, and I got to do a corner climb I’ve had my eye on since Rec Night. It wasn’t a terribly difficult one, but there was a spot where I struggled. Didn’t give up and managed to reach the top, so I was happy. I didn’t grab the anchor, since I couldn’t find something stable enough to support me THAT high, but I was just a few inches from it, so that was good.

I went back today, unfortunately once again without a climbing buddy. So I found someone to belay me… She was waiting for her friend to show up. I did an easy wall today. Didn’t want to take up too much of her time pushing myself on a trickier one. But it was still good. I easily topped it. Then I decided to come back.

At this point I’m setting a rough goal for myself… I would really like to complete one top-rope wall per day, regardless of difficulty (so it could be easy, like today’s), but I know that isn’t realistic. Climbing every day isn’t really realistic either, but that’s what my rough goal is going to be. It’s a rough goal… If I miss a day I’m not going to beat myself up about it. But I’d like to make an effort to try to make it over.
Tomorrow I’m leaving for the coast at 5:00, so since the top-ropes don’t open up until 4:00 that isn’t going to be a reasonable option. I’m going to try to do some open bouldering, maybe after trig. Open bouldering is for whenever Dixon is open, and doesn’t require a harness or a partner… Makes my life a little easier.
I’ve never done bouldering before. A lot of people like it more. I’m going to give it a shot and see. While I don’t have a climbing buddy it might make a great alternative.

I posted on the OSU community about wanting a climbing buddy. Hoping to get a response. I’ve had a couple, but I’m hoping for more. I’ll also ask in FOOTsteps (they’re the ones I went climbing with, after all. ), and maybe at the FW club trip too. Hopefully I can get someone who will at least come occasionally. I can boulder or ask someone at the center if all else fails, but having a climbing buddy would be nice.