Hat Tip

Studying group theory late at night might just be a ticket to quasi-insanity.

Waking up all frazzled because of said quasi-insanity might just be a ticket to hilarity.

Film at 11.

On the plus side I'm feeling pretty good about the test I was doing.

I Tested my Spanish Today

By trying to read this. It's just the wikipedia Spanish page for Mathematics. I've had to look a couple of words up already. More on this as it comes.

So.

So, summary.

Since I got here, I've...

* Been to each class at least once.
* Had exactly two class periods cancelled due to snow/ice.
* Gotten a taste of how bad 18 credits is going to be.
* Hung out with people.
* Gone to Mass/Bible study.
* Noted just how much my roommate Tyler procrastinates.

So, classes.

Modern Western Civilization

The professor is going to be fairly solid. The class on the whole should also be fairly solid. What I will probably enjoy least will be the textbook, for the reason that, well, I'm not going to be exceptionally interested in the material coming in. But I did get to pick the history I would take, and I did pick this, so I can't complain too much.

Linear Algebra

Easier than Discrete Math by a bit, and definitely easier than Number Theory. Right now we're mostly dealing with matrices and related subjects, so it'll require further examination. I had problems staying awake last Friday and am (successfully as of today's period) combatting this by the same method I am using in Augustine of Hippo. The professor, who I also had for Discrete Math, is solid, so learning stuff in this course shouldn't be a problem if I apply myself.

Augustine of Hippo

Confession: I've slept twice in the three periods of this course I've had. Not a good sign, but I plan on combatting it short-term with caffeine and long-term with a bit more sleep. That strategy, by the way, actually worked today. Pun: Unintentional, but I'm not going to change it just because it's an unintentional pun. Class Itself: Should be fun and interesting to learn about Augustine. The professor (same one I had for church history last semester and who is the theology advisor) is going to be solid.

Responding to God

I actually met the prof for this class at the theology-major party and she's awesome. It's going to be fun stuff, although I'm going to have to find time for five instances of an assigned weekly spiritual practice, which could be troublesome, because I also have to find enough time to do said practice for roughly fifteen minutes in a minimally distracted and minimally interrupted space. However the class should be an overall good and interesting experience as it seems to be taking a more experiential approach to learning.

Philosophy of Religion

This should be fun. The professor I know to be solid given my Intro to Philosophy course a few years ago. The material also interests me and I hope to be challenged

Number Theory

Will be fun, but boy is it going to be tough. I have a bunch of proofs due tomorrow, essentially. Not that I didn't do any this weekend, but I should've done more. To illustrate how this class could be, here's a picture that my roommate took of me while I was thinking about one of the proofs:



It's really not that bad and according to the professor (who I am also predicting will be solid) the homework sizes will go down, but the picture was genuinely taken while I was thinking about the math homework.

So, socializing.

General Entertainment and Gaming

Played games (video, like Super Smash Brothers and SoulCalibur II) with friends and with my roommate. Played pool with a couple of friends, too. Generally hung out. Watched some of The Office including the excellent two or three episode arc that ties like half the series' "through lines" or overarching stories together. Also, on SoulCalibur II, I think the plan is that Tyler and I will be playing at least a few matches a week (not necessarily a few times a week, but it might go in in leiu of other procrastination tools like The Office on a given night. Eventually we hope to actually get better at playing the game. It'll be fun because we're fairly evenly matched at it.

Other

I've had the chance to talk theology / random life things / philosophy with people some this semester which of course has been loads of fun. I haven't had quite the two-or-three hour discussions yet but I've at least heard a few peoples' funny stories, which is always good.

So, religion.

Bible Study and Mass

Um, well, I went to CHUBS (Christie Hall Bible Study) last week; that was about it for Bible Study. Also, if you didn't know what the U stands for, 'tis a marketing thing: "It's because we want you there!" is the line used.

I also went to mass (Christie Hall Mass and Chapel of Christ the Teacher both Sunday nights) and I'm doing hall mass again tonight.

The Christian Theology Board Game

This is my sort of independent project which is designed to be a quasi-educational board game about Christian theology. I haven't done enough work in the last two weeks as evidenced by the lack of new cards on Sundays. However I intend to pick up the pace and start doing them again by next Sunday. If I can get enough done then I can take a weekend (perhaps with some help from my closest on-campus collaborators) to put together an actual copy of the game, and soon after to test it out. The Advisor (the theology prof) said he'd be willing to test it with us which could make for great fun.

So, conclusion.

That's pretty much everything that's been up with me lately. Good day and God bless, all. Also, Tyler is procrastinating like mad right now, not that being on Facebook is helping him any.

Can an Extended Kindergarten Help Kids?

Apparently some schools are implementing full-day kindergarten in an effort to help give students more knowledge. And, although there is skepticism about long-term effects of such programs (how helpful they really are long-term) there appears to be a positive correlation between these new daylong kindergartens and higher reading scores and math scores in the 3rd grade tests.

Check out the article here, and please feel more than free to comment on the blog. We've upgraded to Blogger 2.0 or whatnot. (By comment on the blog I mean the thing linked to as well as the look; whichever you feel the need to pour out your heart about.)

Random Recap of College Life #1

Music: Sped-up Jars of Clay and and EsDemo1's demo-song-thing

This is different from the random tidbits because those stories are supposed to be funny. This is more of a rambling or recap of the last couple days that will hopefully be found funny by somebody or other, either on purpose or not.

Christie Pub was on Wednesday. It wasn't the most amazing event ever but it definitely had its moments. For instance there's this guy who played violin like crazy; apparently he played the 'fiddle' to be more precise, but I'm not sure quite what the distinction is (I think I heard it, though.) But if someone's got a decent definition of the difference, please tell me. There were many other acts. I also won $5 for being able to fold my ears. How awesome is that? (Also, in your face, whoever thought that was gross back when I started in 3rd grade--I know of at least one person on campus who fits these two criteria:

a) is a girl
b) thought the ear thing was 'awesome', as opposed to the inital reaction being that it was weird)

Told you this was going to be random. Christie Pub had some other good moments too, like the fireman song at the end, or Mike doing a bunch of covers of songs that went over really well. Most especially I enjoyed "Mrs. Robinson" which was one of the songs he did with Luke singing. Also, this band Dispatch (a certain cousin of mine was into them for awhile, at least) got covered twice. The song 'The General" was the one I knew; the other one I had no idea was even them. Oh yeah, as part of the call for random actage, this guy who transferred in this year attempted a cover of Audio Adrenaline's "Houseplant Song" on the spot. For on-the-spot it was pretty good.

I went to see Steel Magnolias on Thursday. I really did enjoy the play. (For those who haven't seen it, it's four scenes from the lives of six women in a southern beauty shop.) The dialogue was good and one character in particular (Oiuser or something was how the first name was spelled, but it was pronounced like "Weezer") was played very well and with the maximum comedic effect. It made me sorry I didn't go to plays on-campus last year; I'm going to be going to the next one, definitely; it's some farce apparently, called Lend me a Tenor.

Academically I did alright this week. Math's a mixed bag, sort of. Theology is going well but I need to study it this weekend. Everything else is good. My first three tests back were an A and two high B's, so I can't complain too much there, although I'll be studying more for at least two of those, and reading my next vector test for stupid mistakes. Also I am going to FILL OUT THAT STUDY ABROAD FORM tomorrow and, in my spare time Monday (and I guarantee you I'll have spare time for this Monday) I will get my last semester Spanish professor a...those form things.)

Jars of Clay sounds...very interesting sped up. Tangent: When I return home for whatever length of time I return home this Fall Break, my parents will have a chance to hear a Jars cover of an old-school hymn. It's not unmodified as far as vocal line, but if you knew the old one its followable/recognizable, and it's done in that style that sounds sort of country-gospel. It's "Nothing but the Blood," and I thouroughly enjoy that rendition. I can't speed it up, though. I'll explain why on demand.

Back to the curve the tangent was spawned from, I'm also enjoying putting things in Discrete Math terms. Like the other day, I was totally in Ethics listening to a thing about abortion and what possible exceptions there were. I totally wrote down in my notebook:

[Backwards capital E sans serif] an abortion x such that x is morally acceptable.

(A backwards capital E sans serif is my way of describing the symbol which in math tends to stand for the term "there exists.")

In English it basically means "There is some act of abortion that's morally acceptable."

It's obvious to me that I'm REALLY off on a tangent now. So I'm going to stop writing. Goodnight / God bless, all.