Never not again

Last night was the first time I’ve actually worked out in about three weeks now. I’ve been slacking off lately because I felt like I had no time. In reality, though, my overall efficiency was diminished because I wasn’t going. The longer I didn’t go, the more upset and inefficient (maybe unbalanced) I became.

But after going last night, I feel refreshed. I woke up easily this morning, was alert during class without coffee, and within 20 minutes of being in the office, I was able to get something worthwhile done in the office.  I’m never not going to the gym again.

Physics

Falling asleep again. I can’t seem to stay awake in physics no matter what. Learning about rotational intertia… all that fun stuff we talked about in high-school physics. If you dropped a stick with its mass concentrated at the top and a stick with its mass concentrated on the bottom, which stick would hit the ground first? That sort of stuff.

Seriously, falling asleep.

Hectic!

Last night was perhaps one of the most successful Halloween events ever put on by the International Student Association. We had 200 students show up by 9:00 p.m. with two more hours to go. I’m sure we breached the 300 person guest list.

However, nothing comes for free. In exchange for an amazing event, ISA personnel sacrificed an enormous amount of  capital in the forms of time, money, and sanity. Everyone put in a lot of time, and I’m sure by the end some of us were questioning whether or not all the effort was worth it.

But in the end, it surely was! We were justified in choosing a larger venue for our Halloween event (in response to record-breaking coffee hour attendance) as the traditional venue would not have been able to hold 300 guests. We’ve instilled the ISA name into a good 300+ attendees who hopefully in turn attend our other events. We had excellent programming for our attendees.

Hats off to everyone who worked to make it happen.

Not a real post, but…

I do wildland in the summers, so I decided to post this:

Witch Fire

Maps and other resources included for those interested.

One day

An old short Journal entry I wrote:

I wish, for just a few moments, I had the same abilities as Paul Muad’Dib.

Paul Muad’Dib is the main character of the book Dune. In this book, Paul eventually gains the ability to see into the future. He doesn’t see events as they will happen, but rather sees an infinite amount of possibilities; roads, paths, or possible outcomes. He sees the consequences of every action that can occur with a few exceptions in the book.

I think I see one path of my own… or at least, I’m pretentious enough to think I see one path. I want Paul’s abilities so I can see if this moment, this tragic moment, may in fact come to pass:

One day, she and I are walking down the sidewalk next to a field, sun lightly glowing on our backs as the canopy-esque maples shade our faces, hand-in-hand, or maybe arm-in-arm. Maybe through Paul’s ability I can see which, but that is unimportant. Anyway, we’re walking down the sidewalk, she perhaps the epitome of bliss while I, as usual, have my head in the clouds. She is on my left, or on my right; the future is too fuzzy; I can’t tell for sure.

My head, in a vain attempt to follow my mind, turns to the right.. or left, whichever is opposite of where she is relative to me. It is then that I see

her

who is omnipresent in my mind, my life, maybe as a result of my subconscious desire, even though my outward desire says, to myself only, otherwise. We lock gazes, as we have so many times, faint smiles on our faces, her eyes expressing a general sense of happiness, and my eyes… mine filled with… this is where seeing into the future, or at least a future possibility, is fuzzy. I can’t read my own emotions in such a vision, but I try not to worry. It is only a possibility in an infinite set of possibilities.

And I can only hope it remains only that: a possibility.

Scattered thoughts:

A stuffed nose combined with a lack of coffee this morning contributed to my poor mood and performance in Japanese class (sorry to all those who were affected by it).

Also, Korean plastic surgery is fascinating.  I think the surgery detracts rather than adds to the person’s beauty, but if it gives the person more confidence, more power to them.

Also, quiz in Physics today.

Just an update…

Currently sitting in the eye of the storm (midterms). Weekend of anticipation and uncertainty (retreat).

And, of course, looking forward to the future.

True Story

Once upon a time.. there was a boy who was in this third year of college. He wasn’t stupid, but he wasn’t exactly what you would call smart, either. One fine Sunday, he decided he would dedicate the day to studying. So, he woke up at 12:00 after getting only 7 hours of sleep and remaining in a sleep deficit for the whole day. He decided to remedy this by drinking *2* cups of coffee, which caused him to become an unfocused, caffeine overdosed, sleep-deprived person who couldn’t concentrate on anything.. not even facebook, despite having done the same thing time and time again in his two previous years of school. THE END!

*frustration!*

週末 (My Weekend)

Two things:

One: Had a good weekend. The ISA co-directors were invited to a formal dinner to commemorate the opening of the Mills International center. We were served a three-course meal and had the opportunity to interact with University of Oregon faculty and donors. I was fortunate enough to be seated with the provost of International Affairs and the director of the EMU (along with two other guests whose names escape me).  Also, the University of Oregon president was seated next to me (but at the opposite table; we didn’t have any opportunity to interact).

Hung out with Sean and Adelle that night and all of the next day. We went to the football game (in which Oregon proceeded to slaughter the Washington State Cougars 52-7) and then over to Sean’s house where we were treated to a variety of different foods. My contribution was the wine for the Sanagria (spelled correctly, Sean?). After that was an onslaught of Guitar Hero, Halo, and American Idol Karaoke.  Loads of fun.

Two: I received a message on my Mixi account (a japanese style facebook or myspace) from one of my friends in Japan, all of which was in Japanese. She wrote it  in Japanese, and I could tell she wrote it so that 90% of it utilized grammar and vocabulary I already knew and that 10% of it was new vocabulary and grammar, forcing me to do a little research on my own.

Even now, 3 months after most of those guys have gone back to Japan, I’m still amazed at how much they care about foreigners learning their language. All of my Japanese exchange student friends from last year (and there was a lot of them) always took five minutes out of their day to make sure I was speaking correctly and encouraging me to persist when studying the language became difficult. They always tried to make it interesting and relevant, going out of their way to introduce me to phrases that were appropriate for whatever situation I was in (especially the 飲んで，飲んで，飲んで song… what a horrible song!).

I guess what I’m trying to say is that (1) I have never met any group of people who were enthusiastic about teaching something as they were about teaching me their language and (2) its remarkable that they were so eager to welcome me into their groups of friends and become a part of my group. I think without them, I would have failed out of Japanese Class.

Economics 101: Not teaching me anthing (today)

It feels like I’m in a “state of markets” class more than I’m in a general economics survey class. Not learning anything… especially today. Even when we’re talking about public education, which is supposedly my professor’s area of expertise, he manages to keep it boring while managing to not teach us a damn thing.