Powell Library

It is currently 9:42 p.m. and I am in the Powell Library because the Internet is completely down in most buildings on the residence hill. Clearly, my building is one of them, or else I would not have taken the dangerously dark trek all the way down here just to blog and stalk people on Facebook. Well, actually, I would have gone to the gym, but it closes at 9:45 on Fridays, and I was not ready by 8:30 to go because I had just finished eating dinner. So I came with J to the library because she's a crazy person who actually would work after having studied all week for a midterm and having taken the midterm. This is what I do after I take a midterm.

I can't believe I hadn't blogged in weeks until now. What is wrong with me? It isn't like I have any valid excuse, either, because until today, I have had perfectly functional Internet in my room, and until this week, I hadn't done ANY studying or reading.

Today concludes the fourth week of college. I can't believe it's already been a month. This Monday marked the one-month mark of living away from home. I think that I have started to miss being at home. Just sometimes. And although I have a five-page paper due for history on Tuesday, I have decided to go home after the last (hallelujah) Daily Bruin workshop tomorrow because I want to see my mother before she goes on her two-week trip and I don't get to see her for almost a month (if I don't go home this weekend). Yes, I admit that I sometimes miss my mother, even though I always complained about how much I wanted to go to college and away from her already. I guess we all saw that one coming, though, right? But I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, so it's all good.

I miss the gym. I haven't gone since Monday. My visits and stays there have been diminishing since I started reading. Gosh, the price I have to pay to study: weight. I need to go. I must develop a better schedule that will include all of studying and exercising (because just walking is not enough for me) and sleeping (I've been sleeping after two every night nowadays--terrible) and writing (blog and journal) and working (Daily Bruin on Thursdays, 2:30-7:30) and relaxing. Gee, I hadn't realized until this moment how busy I could be if I didn't ignore tasks so frequently.

Flu season. I don't like it. Have I gotten my flu shot this year yet? Oh, dear. Yesterday, my throat started feeling strange. It is continuing to. I am worried and am taking precautions. Why must sick people go to class? Or touch things? Or shake hands with innocent, well people? Or even go out at all? The least they could do is cover their coughs and sneezes and not be physically close to people and endanger them, too. I keep thinking about what I did yesterday, where I went, who I encountered... Nothing! All I know is that the strange throat feeling started when I arrived at the DB (Daily Bruin, shall now officially dub "DB" for brevity's sake) office at 2:30 yesterday. I really don't think the roast turkey sandwich I had for lunch caused anything, although the bread was suspiciously overly crunchy. Ahhhhhhh.

On Wednesday, I turned in my first full paper for English. I wonder what the results will be when I get it back next Wednesday or the following Monday. Honestly, I would rather write a paper than take a midterm. So I had the English paper due on Wednesday, took my oceanography midterm today, and have the history paper due on Tuesday. Today's midterm was quite alright. Out of the 41 questions, I think I might have gotten five or six incorrect. But I shall see next Wednesday, when I have yet another weekly lab quiz... Wow. Once the tests start, they never stop, huh?
I strongly dislike my history class. I skip it at least once a week (lecture is Tuesday and Thursday) most weeks, and each time I go just reminds me of why I never want to go. The professor doesn't even completely articulate her thoughts. The class is a bunch of phooey, because it's philosophical perspective about the history of science. But the thing is that the professor spends most of each 75-minute session mindlessly and senselessly droning about art pieces that I have long since learned are of absolutely no relevance to anybody who cares or anybody who doesn't care. Once, a guy next to me called the class a "waiting game", and I wholeheartedly agreed. And the discussion? Oh, my goodness. So, so stupid. I thought discussions were supposed to stimulate, well, discussion. But words just go back and forth in there. One idea is repeated dozens of times among 20 people, and the TA never says anything definite. Instead, she says, "That's kind of the right idea, but what else?" Kind of?! Are you serious? Geez, it makes me so mad. Smoke fumes from my brain as I sit there and impatiently tolerate such lameness.

Last Tuesday or Wednesday, Hedrick Summit's fire alarm shrieked at 3 a.m. To this day, I still don't know the real cause of the mishap, but everybody actually had to evacuate and wait by the parking lot outside of the suite buildings across the road. At 3 a.m. That night, I slept around four and woke up less than five hours later. Just thought that might have been worth mentioning. I mean, how often does a 3 a.m. fire alarm happen? Not very, I hope.

Hmm, I wish I had brought my journal with me so I could write right now. In any case, over the weekend, I have to:
  • begin and complete history midterm-paper
  • begin and complete reading Frederick Douglass
  • do laundry
  • relax
  • attend Daily Bruin workshop :(
I hate that having to stay for and then attend the workshop already takes up over half of my weekend, though. And it's not even like workshops are fun! Sigh.

Anyway.
If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

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