Summer is officially over for me. I start classes at 8a Monday morning.
I spent June and July in Bloomington, IN with my Steven, volunteering at a vet clinic and a wildlife rehabilitation shelter. I have a number of experiences to relate regarding my time there.
I am currently in Blacksburg, VA, attending Virginia Tech. I’ll be here for at least two years.
I really need to update this website.
goodnight.
I had a conversation today with a Virginia Tech admissions representative, because I was concerned about the fact that I hadn’t heard from them.
I didn’t really say “w00t”. That would’ve been cool though.
UPDATE (15.May.2006):
I’ve pretty much (through the help of an email conversation) gotten over the whole maroon/orange thing. No, that doesn’t mean I like orange. It just means I’ve come to terms with it.
I finally got the pictures of the Rotavapor online. The rotavapor was the Ultimate Shiny Lab Equipment that I talked about a while ago. You can see why it is ultimately shiny.
Today was one of those days where I wanted to commit a reverse hate crime. In composition we were talking about morals, in a very abstract sort of way, as a way of studying argument. Many of the examples dealt with saving one person or group at the expense of another. One of the questions was whether to save an aging AIDS researcher or a young person. It was an obvious question for me. The young person might do something great to change the world, but the researcher was doing something great to change the world. A classmate raised his hand and said:
“Save the young person. Why should we worry about curing AIDS? Haven’t we got a huge overpopulation problem as it is?”
I totally messed up my organic chemistry lab today, but it turned out for the better. I dropped my entire 4mL of water miscible (completely mixable) solution into about 200mL of water. This was relatively early in the procedure. Instead of having me restart, my lab instructor pulled out a massive set of equipment which would supposedly remove most of the water and leave my product behind. This was an ancient rotavapor unit. If you happen to be familiar with a rotavapor, this one is much older. If you’re familiar with an old rotavapor, this one is still probably a bit older. Still though, the entire unit was incredibly shiny. The amount of transparent glassware and running water involved nearly made me orgasm right there in lab. The fact that I applied heat by flame made it even better. A classmate has pictures on her phone, so when (if) I get them I’ll put them up.
Okay, so that was incredibly geeky. Sometimes orgo just consumes my life.
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I love Wal*Mart. What other store contains as large a variety of incredibly useful and incredibly useless things? I saw beverage warmers for A DOLLAR. A mere dollar could insure that my warm beverages never become cold before I finish with them. They also have socks and pens and milk, and because the one here in Cobleskill is one of the massive 24 hour operations, sausage and produce and other grocery-type items. I can fill my prescription there, get my taxes done at the H&R Block booth, or even get checked out by their on-site optometrist. Yes, my Wal*Mart has an optometrist. Will the wonders never cease?
Actually, my favorite thing about Wal*Mart is the fact that we can do completely random things and not be questioned for it. I’m not sure if it’s because the employees have seen so much of it that they don’t care, or if they just aren’t paying attention, but it never fails to amuse me. For example, Lisselly was demonstrating earlier that she already had a pair of those underwear, only the girls’ version, and she was wearing them at that particular moment. This is an important thing to note. Also, I’m not sure she took me seriously when I told her there was going to be a picture of her in her underwear on the internet.
Here we are in the crappy mid-morning part of the third week of classes, and I still haven’t put a schedule in your hot little hands. Tough. I don’t feel like doing it right now.
Ever have one of those classes that just goes on forever, and you look at your watch and see that it’s only halfway over? Organic is not one of those classes. When I look at my watch the class isn’t halfway over, it’s over by half an hour. One hour of organic chemistry makes my brain shut off, which makes the scheduled class time 15 minues too long to begin with. I have no idea what posesses my professor to think that an extra 30 minutes might help.
So my phone battery is like Skittles™ now. It’s five (differently colored but similar tasting) different flavors of messed up. For example, I just turned it back on. Five minutes ago it said it was holding full charge. I bet you could guess what it’s telling me now. Yup, full charge. God I hate technology.
Tonight I’m gonna make some onigiri. For those of you who aren’t gonna click the link, it’s a neat little japanese food where you take a ball of sushi rice, fill it with something yummy (in my case canned salmon [with the little vertebra and everything]) and wrap it in nori (dried seaweed). Then you put it in your mouth and masticate. Then you go get yourself a fresh pair of shorts because it is just that good.
Coretta Scott King passed away today. She was an active and influential civil rights supporter, and she will be dearly missed. Ironically, Samuel Alito was confirmed today as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. His decisions, while they seem rational at first glance, have a decided lean towards the denial of civil liberties. I’m upset. This Bush character has put way too many people on the bench for my taste. Today is a dark day indeed for civil rights. That’s why it’s more important than ever to be socially and politically active. Nobody is going to affect any change by hibernating until the next election. There’s work to be done now
I hopped around a lot tonight. I had stuff to talk about. *shrugs*
Sometime tomorrow morning I will leave Cobleskill, and end the first chapter of my (hopefully long) college career. When I think about it rationally, I know that I’ve done reasonably well and that I should be proud of myself. That is what I know. What I believe, however, is that as this chapter inexorably draws to a close, there is something left that I have missed.
I tend to have this sort of feeling whenever something ends. I suppose a psychiatrist could use that to tell me something about myself. Personally, I’m content to accept it as part of me. I don’t let it hold me down. As my first year of college is winding down, I’ve gotten very reflective and introspective about the year. I’ve made some of the closest friends I’ll ever have. I’ve had some really great (and some really bad) professors, who have taught me a number of valuable lessons. I’ve learned that the most important thing you learn from a class may not be the material. I’ve found that the most important part of my experience here this year hasn’t been what I’ve taken away, but what I’ve given.
I have a little twinge of sadness that this year is over, but now it’s time to move on. I can’t move forward if I keep looking back.
There’s only us; only tonight.
We must let go to know what’s right.
No other course, no other way.
No day but todayRent – “Another Day”
