*thud*

So, it's finals season. And that means no possibility for posts for the next few weeks. If I never post again, you will know that it's because I was slain by the mighty Analytical Chemistry monster.
This is the class where the average for the weekly quiz was around a 70 or so until we hit solubility. Then the average plummeted to a 55 for the online quiz and 3 out of 10 for the in-class quiz. And for some reason, the professor sees nothing wrong with this. May the deity of each person's choice help us all.
Peace and love (and video games if we're lucky...)

Farewell...time for a study break.

A Day in the Life...

I'm very sorry that I haven't been posting more often. To give you an idea why, here's a typical day in the life of an Engineering Chemistry student.

7:30 AM (or really, 1 hour before my first class, no matter what time): Alarm sounds. Wake up!
7:35 AM: Mute alarm. Snooze for another 10 minutes
7:45 AM: Shower, grab a quick 5 minute breakfast
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM: Lectures/Labs. If not in either one of those, eating Lunch/reading for class
5:30PM-6:30PM: Post-school doldrums. Completely unproductive while snacking/watching TV
6:30PM-7:30PM: Theoretically: Homework-first wave
Actually: Procrastination while thinking "I should be doing homework."
7:30PM-8:30PM: Dinner! A perfectly good excuse to not be working on schoolwork.
8:30PM-???: Doing homework/labs. Start off with things due next week and get a decent beginning. When nearing the ??? mark, realize "OH CRAP THIS IS DUE TOMORROW" and quickly hammer something out (usually finishing something you started last week or studying for a quiz that you completely forgot about)
???-7:30 AM(or one hour before first class)

And the cycle repeats.
As you can see my day consists of eating, sleeping, and schoolwork/procrastination.
I am feeling pretty tired since ??? fluctuates between from before midnight to 2 in the morningf. But then, I get into science-mode and sciencey stuff appears in my labs (and I end up getting good grades). My friend put it this way:

"You are a computer. Usually functionally retarded, but feed enough crap into you and stuff happens"

Yeah.
In the meantime, enjoy this xkcd comic about scientists.

Back to school for real this time

Ok, so tomorrow is actually my first day of classes. My schedule's pretty killer with 4 lab courses within a total of 7 courses. I'm in class/lab for over 30 hours every week. Oddly enough, I'm pretty excited to be back in school. I think summer was wonderful, but school has its place in my heart as well.
These past few days were frosh week here at uni and I played a special role in them. I was a "plant" in a frosh group, an upper year pretending to be a frosh in order to make sure the frosh were comfortable and having fun. It was a blast to pretend to be a froshie, but it made me realize how much I have changed since I was a frosh last year. I feel much older and wiser and am glad to pass on my little tidbits of knowledge to my frosh group. All the frosh I met were nervous but happy to be at university, and I tried to add just a little more enthusiasm to all the frosh I met. It was a great time.
Here's hoping everything starts well.

Back to school!

So, this upcoming week is Frosh week at University, then it's back to school. My schedule is pretty killer (4 labs, ugh) but I am still pretty pumped. All the froshies are moving in and I'm all moved into my new place, so things are pretty awesome.
One thing that's not as awesome is the fact that I lack internet in my new place and will lack it until the 14th of this month. The void in my life is surprising. I didn't realize that the internet was such an integral part of my day. However, this has had a nice side effect, being that I have been spending more time with my friends and going out to experience the world. I went rock climbing, saw a movie (The Final Destination IN 3-D!) and just had fun. Oh, and the movie was fun, but silly. My friend wanted to see me scared and he just got "mildly disgusted."
Just stealing internets from campus for now.
Plus, now I have a valid excuse for not posting more often.
This comic pretty much sums it up.
Peace and love.

School's out!

YAY! I survived my first year at university. And, I'm pretty sure that I passed all of my exams. This is an excellent feeling and makes up for the anxiety and nail-biting that accompanied exams. Now, my only concerns are packing up my room to move out and using up my meal plan. The first must happen, the second is never going to happen. I have over 50 meals left and only three days to use them in. Unless I ate myself sick (highly undesirable) I wouldn't finish off my meal plan. Oh well.
Packing is kind of depressing. My walls are bare, my cupboards are empty. I recycled a ridiculous amount of paper. The fact that this year is over is finally hitting me. At the same time, though, I am totally stoked to move into a new house. I'm living with some good friends not too far from campus. I'll actually be on my own, as opposed to the semi-autonomous living I've been experiencing in residence. I'll have to cook, clean, and take care of my room. In rez, meals were cooked for me, cleaning involved vacuuming every once in a while, and anything that broke would be fixed with a quick chat with the janitor. The odd thing is, I'm looking forward to the increased responsibility. It will mean that I can survive on my own, that I'll be able to take care of myself in the future. This is a profound realization.
One thing that I hope never happens occurs in this hilarious webcomic, Johnny Wander. Written by Ananth Panagariya (also of Applegeeks) and illustrated by Yuko Ota, it is a comic about life after college, being a kid, growing up and all the people you meet and all the things that happen in that brave new world.

Or it might be about something else entirely.

Check out the ant related horror at:

http://www.johnnywander.com/comics/59

This crow has nothing to do with the ant horror. I'm not sure why it's the mascot of Johnny Wander. In fact, there is no Johnny Wander in the comic. Unless John's last name is Wander...meh.

FINALS FINALS FINALS FINALS

Aargh, finals season is in full swing. On the one hand, I am lucky since my exams are all spaced out, so I can study for them individually. On the other, I AM CONSTANTLY STUDYING. Unless I'm not. Like now. It's one of those hyperbolic phrases. A friend of mine and I were making hyperboles to de-stress from the exams. Example? Er, I can't rightly recall. But, it was funny. We were in kind of a post-exam stupor.
In order to break up the monotony and disprove the above CAPS LOCKED statement, my roommate and I have taken to going to the gym for an hour. It's a lovely, mindless break from redox reactions, proving something is linearly independent, and trying to find the freaking parse error that won't let my program go. I was curious about my weight and hopped on the scale when I went a few days ago. Turns out I've lost weight, defying the freshman 15. Yay!
I also ran around and played frisbee with some friends yesterday. The weather has finally turned gorgeous and I'm usually stuck in my room doing practice exams. It felt fantastic just to run around and enjoy the beautiful weather.
It's hard to believe that this time next week I'll be packing up my room and preparing to head home.
Meh, 'tis the future. My more immediate problem is figuring out electric fields. Why must I integrate in physics?!?!

When seen outside of calculus, this fellow is the harbinger of pure evil.

The Walrus of Skepticism

So, I'm finished all of my classes in my first year of university. Holy crap, I'm nearly 1/4 done my entire university career. O.O
Anyway, I was in my last couple of classes for the day and the profs all finish early. That said, I must let you, dear reader, know that I doodle constantly. Nearly every page of notes has at least one doodle on it. Once the profs finished, the doodles began to flow.
I drew everything my imagination could think of and a few things that compensated for some of my lack in artistic talent. My doodles grew and mutated. Looking over my notes for exams will be a trip down memory lane, since most of my best ones have funny memories associated with them.
One fellow who popped up recently but became a recurring figure in my doodles is the Walrus of Skepticism. First drawn in Calculus, he has become my response to anything bewildering or silly.
Other times in Calculus, I have drawn a random person and my friends insist it resembles our prof in various situations. A young man with a jewfro? Jonker in the 80's. A salty sea captain? If Jonker hadn't followed his career counselor's advice.
Doodles are a wonderful way to break up the monotony of class. Even if you don't have too much artistic talent, draw anyway! For a while, I was drawing stick figures and trying to give them personalities with as few accessories as possible.
So, go draw! Now!

Really, who needs power series? Not the Walrus of Skepticism!

That's what makes the world go round

Reflecting on the past week, for every up there was nearly always a down.
I had two midterms in two days. However, I think I did fairly well on both.
I did not get the position I was seeking. However, some of my friends did and I can always try for another position for that same time period.
I lost my ipod in physics class. Perhaps some cosmic karma since I procrastinate with it so much.
However, I can always replace the ipod and didn't lose any music.
AND I am going to MONTREAL this weekend to see a dear friend of mine.
Awesome. I think Montreal outweighs all of this week's bummers. And there was al
Plus, I have finally resolved my housing situation for next year.
Life is good.

Yay Tiger Hugs! They make my day brighter

Just taking it easy

Sorry for the lack of updates. Midterms snuck up on me and then my Grandmother had to go to the hospital. One interesting thing I saw while visiting her was how international it felt compared to my school's campus. There was a Russian man across from her, a British woman diagonally, and probably a Chinese patient next to her. I'm lucky if I meet one non-Canadian a month (myself notwithstanding) on campus. And it was amusing listening to the British woman berate the nurses. She complained and complained...then fell asleep. Then woke up to complain some more. And the nurses (neither of which spoke English as a first language) just took it calmly. I suppose that just makes it even funnier.
Currently, I'm on break for reading week, so I'm just having some lazy days. Maybe I'll bake a bit. Yesterday, I had my first ever job interview, which was pretty exciting. It seemed to go pretty well. The lab I met were all pretty cool and working on neat projects. Here's hoping.
Oh, and I was ridiculously excited when I saw that Quantum Leap is finally airing on TV again as reruns! I absolutely love that show. Time travel and Scott Bakula with a witty Dean Stockwell thrown in? Awesome. Plus, the ridiculous "future clothes" Stockwell is dressed in as well as his jello block handset just amuse me even further. Check it out on DVD. It hasn't made its way onto the internets as of yet, to my sadness.

Hilarity awaits with these two. Really.

Decision time!

Wow, it's kind of hard to believe that I'm 1/4 finished my second term. I don't feel like I've learned very much, yet I feel that I have so much to do!
Group projects are a new thing this term. One of my projects is to design an anode for electrolytic reduction in order to stabilize a condenser retrieved from the USS Monitor. Kind of epic, eh? We're basically de-crapifying it using the gas bubbles generated plus removing ions that could react and make the metal disintegrate.

The condenser. With all of its glorious crap.

A pretty cool project, if I may say so myself. It could actually affect something in the real world! It's not just theory!
But, I now stand at the brink of making a decision that will affect the rest of my schooling. What to specialize in?
It's confession time. I'm a lab rat. A consummate lab rat. You know how analysis happens instantly on TV, like on CSI? Well, it takes hours of analysis and much down time. And I actually like that. I know. I'm a freak.
So, I'm leaning towards Engineering Chemistry. Instead of figuring out how to make old goo faster, I make new and exciting goo! Everyone says it is extremely hard, but I think I'm up to the challenge.
Well, fingers crossed that I make the right decision. Now, I'm making another good one. I'll stop blogging and do some research and actual work. Go me.
On a side note, happy year of the Ox!

So close, I can taste it...

Tomorrow, I finish my final exam of the term and can officially put on my engineering jacket. For those who don't know, the leather jacket of Queen's engineers (aka the Golden Party Armor/GPA) is a symbol of our pride in our faculty and a bit of a scrapbook for our time at Queen's. Now commonly dyed gentian purple, its yellow leather has been a symbol of Queen's engineers for years. We slam it with pride.
But, my ultimate exam is Computers. And I'm taking it without the aid of a computer. WHY?!?!?!
Because apparently the problems come up with different answers, depending on who is at the keyboard.
So now I memorize useless algorithms for spreadsheets and this little piece of hell called Maple (which, depending on its mood, either grudgingly does your formula or gets stuck in an infinite loop, freezing your computer).
But tomorrow, I will be done and good riddance.

Hell in a box.

In the meantime, I found this wonderful clip of Bert and Ernie gangsta rapping.

The Eye of the Storm

So, it's the middle of finals season and I am posting to my blog instead of studying. But, I figure I've earned it after taking (and hopefully passing) geology and chemistry finals. I must say that I am glad to be done geology. It's fascinating and interesting and the prof was amazing, but I just can't dig rocks (ah ha. Get it? Right. Moving on.)
I feel like I'm in the eye of the storm of finals. The worst is past and more is yet to come. I am oddly peaceful and un-stressed, unlike my fellow floormates. I haven't gone to the library to study, opting instead for the semi-peace of my floor and ambient music. Should I be stressed? Maybe. A bit of stress is what gets me actually doing something productive. I guess this is why I have on my wall a list of things to do, a constant reminder of the things I should be doing.
And what do you know, the next thing on the list is study calculus.
Well, it was fun, but now is the time to meet my fate face to face. Onward, ho! (Not that kind of ho, you pervs)

Work work work...at least I have a calculator. So much for small blessings, eh?

TGIF.

Ah, Friday. The end of the school week always comes most gloriously. My first week sans midterms was pretty awesome, with a distinct and awesome lack of homework due in the next few days. This weekend is mine to chill in. No school.
Oh, who am I kidding?
I just know that that one chem problem will bug me.
Or I will probably want to start my project early.
I am such a keener. Sometimes, that's not so awesome.
So, I will make it a point to try to keep real work to a minimum. Go out have a good time and overall relax. My body and mind will thank me.
Stress is a terrible thing. Relaxation is a wonderful thing. Everyone should have a way to relax.
And relax I shall until finals.