...And Now For Some Answers!

Okay, first of all I need to tell you all how orientation went. Then sometime vaguely after that there'll be some descriptions of what I'm taking and how on earth I expect to pass any of it. You might be saying "yeah, yeah, the 4.0 student thinks his classes are hard, whatever." You, whichever you it was thinking that, do not have Spanish 301 when you tested in the 200s, which you are pretty sure is going to kill you, or at least make your head explode with words you don't know and people all around who are twice as fluent, at least.

You do not have Jazz Band when you're out of practice and barely reading any sheet music, and someone with your instrument (and it's a one-player instrument, bass guitar) is already in the band, and he's good. (On the off-chance anyone reading knows him, I'm not dissing him. He was quite welcoming and understanding, as well as reassuring. For that matter, so was the director of Jazz Band.) You do not have an integrated Physics and Calculus course which could actually be a challenge. You do not have an English course which is for better or worse shaping up to be the easiest thing on your schedule, and that's with three readings (I plan on playing about an hour of bass today. Trying to read this peice called 'Brazil.' If my bass-playing Uncle sees this, any tips on that peice?)

And you, on top of all that, do not have a very sincere friend who wants to transfer to a higher level of Calculus (what I will be doing second semester) and wants you to come with him, very much. And you may have one of these things (if you also have that very last item, please let me know; it'd be an incredible coincidence) BUT you do not have ALL of them. If you DO have all of these things, call me or e-mail me ASAP, because that means we really have a coincidence.

So there you have it; I'm stressed about lots of things. Parents were IMing me awhile back and from what my Dad said I sort of said something that hurt my Mom, regarding their IMing me. So I'd like to apologize for that, because I know she's one of my readers. Sorry Mom, I didn't mean to hurt ya.

And in all of this I managed to lose the orientation. Orientation was okay, and the best part was just getting to hang out with people and meet cool people. There's still a couple of student orientation things left, in some sense. We've got to see some one-person play called "Dissolve" about some serious issues regarding parties and such (the title should give you an idea of what it's about, so I'll be discrete here.)

Today, what's on the schedule:

* Work on my English and Spanish homework, which means a lot of reading and writing in English and reading and attempting comprehension (and, at least as instructed, sans dictionary.) English should be decent fun, though. This'll be after lunch, probably in the library.
* Practice my bass for at least an hour, work on speed and technique as well as learning Brazil, so I can play it as un-crappibly as possible tomorrow, when I get a chance to play. Not sure when this'll happen as dorms can get noisy. Tyler (my roommate) will probably be studying
* Go to bed at a godly hour (i.e. really around 12:00) so that I can get up properly for my 8:10 class.
* Blog (that's being taken care of now.)
* Lunch with Doug from Christie Hall, who's one of the cool people I met while on the Service Plunge (in about forty minutes from this typing is when I leave.)
* Stop using so many parenthesis (those things that you put around side-comments or other things that for some reason can't be / aren't being done without parenthesis) in my sentences (those things that have subjects, direct objects and a few other things in them, like verbs (action words) and adjectives (description words.))

Oh yes, on top of all the other crap going on right now I still need to find an on-campus job. Fun. So, on to your questions and comments from the last post and from the one before it. The one before it, since it was an earlier posts, is going to be taken care of first.

L-Po said: Please, please, please tell me you made it to class on time.

Actually, yes. So far I've been making it to class on time. The classroom that I have my 8:10 in has a clock about ten minutes slower than every other clock I use getting to class, which is nasty and nice at the same time (nice because I get there early, nasty because I can't exactly rely on it well enough to start coming "late."

llgp said: So, how was your first day of classes? When is your first Spanish class (don't forget to talk to the prof). Is Tyler in the class with you or is he in a different section. (It might be nice to have a class or two in common, but not so many that he has to put up with you all day long!) Any more job interviews or applications? I have many other questions I'll hold off on for now.

My first day of classes was interesting. I got to Physics alright; it's going to be a difficult class not to sleep in. Not that it's particularly boring, but that it's a) long and b) at eight freaking ten in the morning. My first Spanish class was at 11:20 AM yesterday, and I did talk to the Prof. I'm going to roll with it, but don't expect an A. If I get one it'll probably be as much the grace of God as my hard work. And I'm going to have to work really hard. Tyler's in different section. No more job interviews or applications, per some sentence I wrote earlier in this post.

Michael Millar said: Alright! Big man on campus. Good luck with the year. (oh yeah, Ive got a show so deep and confusing that I'm stumped to say the least, its called Neon Genesis Evangelion. You might want to look into it. Its filled with tons of christian symbolism and mythology.)

Yep, I am a big man on campus. But some are bigger or at least taller. As a matter of fact one of my fellow Kennadians (peeps who live in Kenna) refers to me as "big guy." I've heard of Neon Genesis Evangelion. If it's on Adult Swim on Fridays or Saturdays I might bug some other UP people and get together and watch it in someone's hall's lounge, or something. Intervisitiation policy regarding times people are allowed to be around don't apply there, so going past 12:00 AM or 2:00 AM as the case may be doesn't result in your getting in trouble.

nana said: Daniel...Daniel....Daniel.
Peace be with you

And also with you.

So now we come to the comments from the last post. Here they are, along with responses!

L-Po said: Just remember ... naps can be a good thing. [AND, she later said:] Also remember that Dad and I are praying for you, even when we are incredibly annoyed with you.

Naps can be a good thing, yes. Thanks for praying even when incredibly annoyed. I might nap today, but it won’t be too long. I think I’m going to “Dissolve” tonight; it’s required viewing.

Nana said: IF you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, THEN you will not be royalty during the French Revolution

Interesting. Never thought of it that way before.

llgp said: Wise sequencing of the peeing and bed-going activities!
Eagerly awaiting your next post.

Yeah, I didn’t really feel like wetting the bed in week one. That would have been just a wonderful way to establish a reputation. By the way, I might need some money soon, or my cash-card, for campus events and to pay back Kenna Hall because the key’s been lost twice in the last two days, counting today (first time’s free, second time’s $1; I don’t know how I lost my amazing don’t-lose-my-key ability, but I’m now on extra key-sensitive alert getting it back.)

That's the end of my commentary on the comments section...By the way, a word about making plans via blog. If you have a question about when I can see my l’il cousins (and that would be cool) or a question about when I can do this or that, or something on some specific day, that’s awesome; let me know. But if it’s something that’d be done today or tomorrow, I’d prefer that you send me an e-mail or give me a call instead, because those things are better forums for things that are happening in that near of a future. I hope that made sense. Voicemail is not yet set up, but you can try calling my Kenna Hall room anyway. I miraculously managed to leave my cell-phone at home, so that will not work, at least not until my parents can bring it / force me to carry it for emergencies.

So one more thing about today. I had Physics and was told to do the pre-lab before Friday. What I'm not seeing is how that's possible, given that most of it is a lab. I'm thinking I might have actually done the pre-lab already, and just don't know it. I might ask someone else in Calculus/Physics what they think about it, because unless I go to the open lab with at least one lab partner I'm not seeing how the assignment can get done pre-Friday.

Well, now it's nearing time for me to head to lunch (we're meeting around 12:00) and I don't want to leave this blog open all day, so I'm going to close the post. Tomorrow expect some stuff about how Dissolve was and how on earth I did in Jazz Band. I've been lazy on the bass and now I have to "face the music," pardon the bad and intentional pun.