Corin Chellberg's online something or other

Had to pull myself out of bed just before 10am this morning to begin the arduous trek to French 202.  I really need to get better acquainted with the bus system, because at top walking speed it took about 15 minutes to get there.  The time and effort don’t bother me, but that long a walk is tedious and boring.  Especially in winter.  Regardless, I found the classroom a few minutes early, and luckily for me, my friend Matt from 201 was in the room.  I grabbed the empty seat next to him.  The teacher is a guy named Dawuda from Ghana.  The accent is slightly different than my last teacher (who was Russian), but not hard to understand.  He talked about the course for a while, and we did the typical introduction activity (Matt and another senior near us were also poli sci majors), and class was over.  I made the also-too-long trek to the ME building, and was one of the last people into the room for Intro to Philosophy.  The professor is in his 60s I’d say, with a long, unkempt beard, and equally long, equally unkempt gray hair.  He was, like my history professor, hilarious, slightly profane, and thought provoking, even on the first day.  One of his more memorable quotes was ~ “This is funny.  We’re at a good college, and all of you are supposed to be smart.  I ask you whether “4+4=8″ is true, and you’re all like ‘Shit, I don’t know!.’”  Good stuff.

As usual, sorry it was boring.

Second things first.  Blogging is frigging hard.  First things second.  Today was the first day of the semester for us Boilermakers, unlike the poor folks in high school and those at Rose Hulman.  Christmas break was nice, especially the 10 days in California and the three with Laura, but I’m definitely happy to be back.  I get to use my desktop again, which you really don’t appreciate enough until you use a laptop for three weeks.  I get to use my comfortable computer chair instead of a mediocre one I pilfered from the dining room.  There aren’t parents bothering me once an hour with some request or inquiry.  The parents (since they are reading), to their credit, weren’t unbearable at all, but adjusting from near-total independence to semi-subjugation wasn’t easy.  Anyway.  Over break I somehow lucked into moving my French class from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM, right into the spot in my schedule I left open should such an opportunity present itself.  This turned a pretty bearable schedule into a really, really nice one.  On Tuesday and Thursday, I’m in class from 10:30 – 12:20, and then done.  Pretty nice right?  Monday and Wednesday I’m in class from 12:30-4:20 with a one hour break at 1:30, which is also very doable.  Friday is the only full day, with classes at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 2:30, and 3:30, but I can deal with that.  Really anything that doesn’t require me to ever wake up earlier than 9 is a huge break from last semester.  Sadly I doubt my next 6-12 semesters will be this relaxed.  Better enjoy it while I can.

So far I’ve had my Intro to International Relations class, American History 1, and Modern Weapons and International Relations.  All 3 of them are heavily reliant on tests for the final grade, which I think is a good thing.  Busywork is much more of a challenge for me than essay tests.  At least that’s what I’m hoping.  For example, the Modern Weapons grade is made up by 2 30% tests and a 40% final.  High pressure? Maybe, but the subject matter is fascinating.  In class today we watched a 20 minute clip of The Last Samurai, looking at the way the improved weaponry of [whoever was fighting the samurai] completely nullified the decades of training in swordsmanship and combat.  One hour of training with what looked like a primitive Gatling gun and a fresh recruit can overwhelm a huge number of highly skilled samurai.  This bodes well for the rest of the course.  The Intro to Int Rel course is taught by the same guy, who seems interesting and competent, so it should be good, if slightly less interesting than the Weapons class.  It’s a requisite, so I’m taking it.  Though it’s possible I should take government instead.  I didn’t learn much in my AP Gov class in high school.  That’s a long story involving a wacky teacher and a tired senior.  Anyway.

I thought my history teacher was British, because I read it on RateMyProfessor or whatever that site is.  Turns out he’s from Iowa.  Kinda disappointing, because I was looking forward to learning about the revolution from a Brit, but he’s hilarious all the same.  Part of me wants to drop this too, though, because if I had gotten a slightly higher score on the AP US History test I’d already have credit, so how much new am I really going to learn…  But I really didn’t learn much in APUSH and it seems like knowledge I should have.  Granted I could read a book, but what are the odds I’ll actually do that?  That was one of my New Year’s resolutions actually, read more.  Meh.

Got my laser printer today.  It is awesome, as far as I can tell.  That’s about it.  Sorry this was totally and completely uninteresting.

Oh, I forgot.  Laura gave me an idea for a story today.  It might be funny.

No I’m not posting it here, you thieving bastard.

I should be studying for my chemistry final right now… It’s on Tuesday, and I still have a good portion of the semester’s material to learn.  However, I started reading my chem book like usual, and I could just feel my brain cells rebelling against the unwanted information.  Polymers and semiconductors and functional groups… It’s hard to motivate myself to learn crap that I’m only going to need to know for two hours on Tuesday morning, and then be able to forget for the rest of my life.  How much of it I learn will decide whether I get a B or a D, so it is important to some extent, but it’s completely uninteresting.  I really have to question the sanity of all chemistry and chem engineering majors.  I don’t see how you could take this class and have your reaction be “Oh gosh yes, I’d love to take classes like this only progressively harder for the remainder of my college career!”  If someone told me I had to pick between being a chemistry major and a homeless panhandler in Alaska, I’d have to think seriously about my options.  Thankfully, those aren’t my options.

Next semester I’ll be starting my new major, Political Science, or as I like to call it, polar opposite of engineering.  Ugh, polar.  Just made me think about the phospholipid bilayer.  Damn you general chemistry.  My classes next semester are going to be so much more interesting and enjoyable.  That’s the plan anyway.  I think the topics will be fascinating to me, which will be a nice change of pace from excruciating.  I’m in American History, Intro to International Relations, Modern Weapons and International Relations, and Intro to Philosophy.  Oh and French.  At 8:30 AM.  Might have to do something about that.  But still, pretty freakin sweet, to quote Peter Griffin.  Next semester I won’t have so little tolerance for the classes that I can’t help but skip them.  Right?  Right.

So to summarize: laundry time isn’t a great time to study chemistry.  But then, there’s no such time.  Ever.  That means you, chemistry majors.

Slaxxor is Reborn!

Well, Slaxxor is back.  Not exactly sure what to do with it, but at least it’s a webpage people can visit again.  Also added a new photos section which I’ll probably use more often than the blog part.  It’s located at http://www.slaxxor.com/photos , so take a look at that.  Or don’t.  You know, whatever.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!