Monthly Archives: February 2003

Personal Blog

Excitement!

Last night after Brendan and I finished theory homework and when Flora was done with rehearsal, we all went to Walmart for some SETC supply shopping. It really got me excited and in the mood for SETC, I can’t believe it’s already next week! We’ll be leaving Tuesday night, in fact. I bought a nice bag to carry things around in, since I don’t have a purse, and I’d rather not lug my clunky backpack everywhere. I don’t buy new bags often, but when I do, its first hour or so in my possession is usually spent by finding stuff to put in its pockets. Squirt dubbed it a stage manager’s bag, and I guess that will be true, since I’m participating in the 24-hour play festival as a stage manager.

Although I’m preparing as best I can, I know missing two days of classes will put a big dent in my efforts to keep up, even though I feel I’m currently ahead of myself as far as classwork. Still, I’ve talked to all my professors, and they don’t seem to think I’ll have much of a problem. I’m going to try my best to not worry about the missed work and to enjoy the convention. Jeff was explaining to me how the Job Contact event works, and his enthusiasm got me excited in turn. He’s going to help me finalize my resume today.

So, all my nervousness is dripping away and being replaced by excitement. This weekend I’ll devote to getting ahead in my classwork, and making sure my scholarship application to Corning will be ready to send the minute I get back in town. The rest will be packing and preparing and hopping about in excitement.

Oh, let’s just face it, I can’t wait ^_^ My parents even got me a 128 mb memory stick for my camera as a present! How nice! Expect pictures, muahaha!.

Personal Blog

Busy busy busy

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Today, I was helping Kay fill glass molds, holding open the annealer door for her, and it didn’t register in my head that my sweatshirt was not cotton…it MELTED! My poor poor sweatshirt that I’ve had since like the 7th grade, all melted down the side. It’s really not a terribly big deal, but I think I’m worn enough that it upset me a good bit.

I sat down the other day to re-organize the stuff going on in my life right now. You know, categorizing it into stuff that’s important, stuff that’s urgent, stuff that’s important but not urgent…that sort of thing. I did this once in high school, and I remember the not important/not urgent section being pretty full. There were things like “watching tv” and “playing video games” and stuff, and I remember cutting back on a lot of that to make room for more important things.

So I was like, “ah! I’ll find some time by cutting back on some of those!” So I made my list…and it was the category that was least full >_< I already don't watch tv, and though I would have said that Halo could use some cutting back in the fall, even those games are few and far between in the spring. So, the internet is suffering the biggest cut, which is still a stretch, because I don't spend a terrible amount of time on the internet as it is. Not as much as I used to, at least. I mean, I don't even have time to read web comics anymore, I struggle to keep up with two a day, how unpleasant! So, I'm not going on any sort of big hiatus or anything, I'm just going to be around less than I already am. I did, however, implement my School AIM settings, so that now, if you see me on AIM, you'll know that I intend to stick around for longer than 15 minutes at a time ^_^ It won't be an easy feat, but I tried it today. I'm fortunate to have a wireless keyboard and mouse, because I can just take them and put them in the closet, it really reduces temptations to spend my blocks of free time futzing about online. There's also an alternate reason for my taking a break. Sheldon's been giving me lots of advice about my wrists lately. I told him about what the doctor said, and he instantly turned into mother hen, telling me to do this or that or be careful of this. I'm going to start listening to him. Sheldon (for those of you who don't know, he's my painting instructor) has pretty severe carpal tunnel syndrome. He has big foam grips on his paintbrushes to help him, he has to treat his arms every day when he goes home, and he chatted with me about things he just has to do all the time for it. I think it's kinda sad, I mean, he's a painter. That's what he does for a living, he paints, he draws, he teaches others to do the same, that's his life, and he has to do it with a rather unpleasant nerve problem in his hands and wrists. How awful! I really don't want to end up like Sheldon (well, not in that sense at least, in every other sense maybe so, Sheldon's my hero! ^_^). I guess I just want to do what I can to keep my symptoms from ever wandering anywhere outside of "mild," and this would be a good way to help do that. The wrists have been bothering me more often since glass picked up this term anyhow. I'll keep this journal up, I'll try not to be *too* late in webpage updates, you know, that sort of things. Things might not even be so busy when March is through, we shall see, I guess.

Personal Blog

Graaaaaah!

I have been blessed and cursed with a very low stress perception.

On the upperhand, it means I don’t get stressed out about things easily. Upcoming tests and papers do not worry me, finals week does not send me on an emotional fray, and I do not get “stressed out” over school and such…

The bad part about this is that I usually do not detect when I really am putting a lot of stress on myself. Things just pile up, and I schedule and organize and everything gets done. But it puts a lot of wear on me, I just don’t perceive the stress. It’s generally not until, as it was last term, I’m limping to class feeling as though my bones are on fire, and my professor…my professor sends me home from class to get rest that I even consider “You know, maybe I’m pushing myself a bit too hard.”

At the end of every term, I’m amazed at how I barely survived, and every term I add a little more to my workload.

I generally do a pretty good job of keeping up with myself, but lately, I’ve been feeling myself shift and move and change beneath me. I know I need to catch onto it, so I don’t look back at myself suddenly to find I’m a changed person, but I really am so busy. It’s tricky, too, because isn’t all this wonderful…torturous work I’m putting myself through supposed to be for bettering myself? And yet I’m so busy with *stuff* that I’m neglecting myself. Tricky!

Ultimately, this is what’s happened…
A lot of stuff is going on in my life right now, and through much organization and planning, I’ve managed to get it all balanced. Sure, it may be an overly tall, wonky, wobbly structure, but it’s balanced!

Then, today, as I was fine tuning the balanced structure of my life, a large, menacing, godzilla-like creature came stomping up in the form of a memo that said:
“Rhodes Scholarship! You should consider applying!”
Then the monster kicked over my structure, and stepped on me.

Now, I think applying for the Rhodes Scholarship would be an awesome thing to do. It’s just that, I *never* had considered it before, and it’s so much work! I am overwhelmed. O_o I’m going to talk to Sheldon tomorrow.

Personal Blog

Maaaaaagic

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Today in theory…

The Pumping Theorem:

Let L be a regular language.
Then there exists n >=1 such that any string w that is an element of L with |w|>n,
there exists x, y, z so that w can be rewritten as w=xyz, such that y !=e, |xy|<=n, and xy^iz is an element of L for each i>=0.

Me: “So, where does the n come from?”
Dr. McAllister: “Oh, well, the n is sorta like magic.”
Class: “Ah, magic..mm, yes *note note note*.”

Personal Blog

Just some links

Hooray! My glass fishie is doing very well ^_^ Approaching last chance!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2615652319

Meanwhile, in Computer Organization, we were discussing acronyms and their potential silliness, and Dr. Montgomery told us about this little piece of US defense. It’s…….interesting.

http://www.time.com/time/europe/me/daily/0,13716,423690,00.html

Personal Blog

Time flies

For anyone who particularly liked my glass fish…

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2615652319

In other news, February has passed its midpoint! I noticed this today as I was making my calendar for the week, and had a brief moment of panic. The dreaded March-of-decision-making is that much closer. However, after a moment, I calmed down. I think I’ve done well about preparing myself…

-As far as the summer glass class goes, my slides are developed and I should pick them up today. I’m going to give Steve a deadline for my letter of recommendation, and today I’ll ask Sheldon if he’ll write one too. That just leaves the scholarship essay.

-I had Matthew revise my resume, and I’ve rewritten most of it. Today I’ll schedule another appointment to have him look over the second copy. SETC is almost here, but I’m more excited than I am nervous ^_^

-The what-to-do-during-winter-term-next-year issue may already be decided. As much as I’d love to go, I don’t think I can come up with the funds necessary to study in Morocco. However, there is a much cheaper biology trip to the Bahamas that may be affordable. A friend of mine went on it last year and really enjoyed himself. It’s a popular trip, though, and I may not make it in even if I can come up with the deposit money.

I’ve been rigorously setting goals and keeping to them, and I’m proud of myself for that. It’s only been two weeks and I feel like I’ve been back at school for months.

Personal Blog

Well…

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They said it correct

I spent the other day doing work in the art barn, and so wore my steel-toed boots as I always do, just in case, to protect my toes from dropping heavy things upon them.

Back in my room, I was taking the steel-toed boots off, and I DROPPED ONE ON MY TOE. Is that not the most perfect irony?

It’s almost as bad as how I injured my neck yesterday giving someone a hug >_<

Personal Blog

Community

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Every time I go to some big thing at Centre–a guest lecturer, a speech, a play of some sort–I always feel invigorated and yet slightly frustrated at the same time. There’s always some incredible insight, or some important message, and I feel wiser for the world. But at the same time, I am always frustrated that I can’t hunt down every person I’ve ever known offline/online/whatever in that exact moment, and drag them there and sit them down and say “You need to see this.” It frustrates me that I can barely convey the message, which is reinforced so much by the experience, which is lost on me all together. It’s not even enough to say “this is an awesome play, go see the movie,” because the experience is just not the same. I suppose it wouldn’t even be the same to drag friends from across the country, it’s more forceful to sit and watch people you know in love in a place where you live draw frighteningly realistic parallels and make you think. The physical presence provided by theater is enough to drive any wavering point straight home.

The Laramie Project was beautiful and intense. Jeff’s sleepless nights and the grueling work of the cast and crew paid off, and I believe it was a very important thing that happened on that stage. It made me think a lot–about hate, about people, about how we do important things in theater, about how we do important things in art. Overall, though, the biggest impact on me was the idea of community.

I’ve never been one to deny the fact that I live in a college bubble, and more often a smaller, more personal bubble. I always say “I live in Louisville, but go to school in Danville,” or sometimes even opt out of the town name and just say “Centre.” I need to realize that I live here, this is where I live, this is a community which I am part of, and I need to take responsibility for that.

There are things going on here that I found out about just last night, that I had *no* idea about. There are places I’ve never been, and my interaction with the people has been limited to say the most. So here’s Wertle’s message of the day:

Physical community is important. No matter how detached you feel from it, how different you are, how little you could care about what’s going on down the street, YOU are a part of your community. You need to find a facet where you can affect it, and you need to take responsibility, because you live there, you are a part of it, you have a chunk of it to uphold. So, off with you now! Go on, take a look outside your window and see what you can. Take a few steps outside the bounds of your campus and figure out where you live. It’s important.

As for me, I have a few goals to set for myself regarding my final year and a half at Centre…or rather, in Danville.

Personal Blog

Laramie Project

So I declined getting into electrics for the spring show, even with my crescent wrench gnawing longingly at my sleeve. My wrists were scolding me by the end of the day, and I took that as a sign to not push it too far over the limit this term. I’ll save it for road shows.

If anyone’s near Danville tomorrow and Thursday night (I can only think of 2 right now), you should come see The Laramie Project. Directed by Jeff (the one who juggles flaming sticks) and with a killer cast, it should be a good show. Plus, if you visit, I might give you a cookie or something.