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I took my first Physics test of the semester this morning, and boy was it an experience. Somewhere in my gut, I knew last night that today wasn't going to be in my favor. Maybe the stars were aligned against me, I don't know. Something was amiss, though, and there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it.
To make a long story short, I ran out of time before I could finish the test and I know for a fact that the highest grade I can get is a D. Awesome. Incredible. I couldn't have hoped for better.
I was extremely angry afterward. I wasn't angry at anyone in particular (because I knew I was mad at myself for not preparing well enough), but I kept coming up with reasons to be mad at everyone around me. I was fuming in the SPS lounge for a few minutes when it occured to me that I was being a complete and total jerk. Even as one of my friends was offering consolation, I just turned and walked out of the room.
Alright, that wasn't the nicest way to end a conversation, but I couldn't stand there any longer. I was boiling over.
I can generally keep a relatively level head, but I've apparantly let something build up for a bit too long. I noticed the other night (After someone stopped my drier and let my clothes sit there for who knows how long) that I was beginning to boil over, but I managed to put a lid on it and go about my business. This morning, I was about to lose it completely.
So naturally I went into the computer lab to work on homework and put the lid back on.
Before too much longer, someone's going to make the smallest mistake and all of this is going to explode. Every encounter shortens the fuse just a little bit more, and I can't find a suitable outlet for any of this. I'm honestly afraid of what might happen if I don't.
The snow and biting cold I've enjoyed since I got back has been replaced by a much more sinister force: rain and humidity. The sun is "out," but - as the current cam picture shows - it's not exactly at full power. I would tell you what the current temperature is outside, but WeatherBug's ad popper-upper freaked out and tried to load 70 windows at once when I tried to close it. Needless to say I purged that evil from my hard drive. I will not abide that kind of behavior in my weather monitoring service.
It's not a glamorous gig, but I started my new job yesterday. I'll be spending my Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in the Physics Help Center...helping with Physics. Surprisingly enough, I actually had more trouble with the Phys208 students than I did with the Phys250 student. I guess I still have Mechanics on the brain. We don't get a whole lot of people, so I spend most of the time catching up on homework that I know I won't do when I'm in the dorm room.
Just like I'm not writing my lab report here now.
Our SPS (aka - "Physics Club") Game Night last night was the single most incredible game-related event in the history of game-related events. Imagine, if you will, a Physics classroom. Not the stuffy, forty-year old room with the shoddy desks and plumping lines that run beneath the ceiling, but the brand new "learning environment" with the round tables, comfortable rolling chairs, and three large projector screens. That one. Yeah.
Now imagine that - after classes are done for the day - a band of Physics geeks get inside and assemble a small ethernet network to which they connect three X-Boxes. Yes. Three X-Boxes. Still imagining, picture them hooking said consoles to the three projectors. Now imagine there are twelve of these people, each brandishing a shiny new controller. If you're equally nerd-minded, you know what I'm about to tell you.
We played 12-Player Halo on the largest projector screens we could find.
Each player's section of the screen was the size of a big-screen TV. The Blood Gulch CTF game finally felt like a real CTF game, instead of the dull two-on-two we would normally be restricted to. When we went in for the flag, we went in as a team, rather than a pair of people who were dumb enough to leave the flag totally unguarded. I was so overstimulated by the end of the night, I actually thought I was going to throw up.
And everyone knows vomit is the gaming equivalent of a standing ovation.
I finally got around to taking a picture of The Science Building™. It's that square thing with the doors and windows and such. The building cut off on the right is the planetarium, and it's neato mosquito. The tobogganed guy there is Alan. Should you ever see the back of his tobogganed head in a crowd, you'll recognize him.
I've found that I can't use my web cam without sunlight pouring directly into my window. Our rooms here are poorly lit, and the backlighting option in the cam software makes the image look like the monitor is melting. So if you notice a different picture over on the right, it's because I didn't bother to take a picture while there was daylight, so I've stolen someone else's work to replace it.
Yesterday, Alan and I were relaxing in the dorm after a long day of classes, when a mysterious knock came to our door. I call it mysterious, but it wasn't really when I think about it. My headphones were on, so I didn't really hear it too well. Anyway, after the knock came a strange jiggle of the handle. Were we being entered and robbed? I didn't know, but I was going to find out.
Just then, we heard someone going into the room across the hall. It must have been a mistake.
Later, as we were leaving, I tried to lock our door. My key wouldn't turn. I twisted it this way and that, but to no avail. My key would not work in our lock. Alan tried his, but with no luck himself. Careful to pretend everything was normal, we made our way to the lobby and consulted the desk RA. After a few minutes of confusion and checking in the back, he returned.
"I need your key," he asked Alan.
Alan complies, and the gentleman takes his key away. A few minutes later, he returns with a new key, and asks the same of me. I'm confused, and reasonably so. It's not an everyday situation to have your keys exchanged for no reason. It was at this point that the truth became known.
Over the Christmas break, Alan misplaced his room key. He bought a new one, and everything seemed just fine. But apparantly - lost in the fine print of the room contracts - that wasn't enough. Because he didn't find it after a certain number of days, the residence hall had to change the lock. Alright, that's understandable. We can't have spare keys to this room floating around all over the place.
What's not understandable is how they changed our lock...in under ten seconds...without opening the door...
I'm absolutely baffled, and not a little frightened. We were both in the room, and out of nowhere these ninja servicemen changed our lock and disappear without any warning. What terrible, terrible things could these men should we incur their wrath? I don't want to think about it.
Just when I thought we were rid of the powdery death, it started to snow again. I haven't seen solid ground since we got here.
I've yet to see it with my own eyes, but word on the street - the campus street, of course - is that Kazaa and similar file-sharing apparati are now banned. Effective the day before someone prints a full-page protest in the school paper, the network administration will begin some form of bandwidth monitoring (I'm presuming. They may have more sinister means of routing on perpetrators). There's no word yet on what kind of punishment will befall we pirates, which actually makes me more nervous about the situation.
For the time being, I've said my goodbyes to Sharman Network and cut the old galleon adrift. The matter's in the hands of the royal navy, now. I'll take my buried treasure and move on.
This is a picture I took with the digital camera Santa Clause gave to me. I took it from in front of the science building toward nothing in particular. I hope later to take pictures of places I actually go - like the science building itself. If I think about it, I may even take a picture of my dorm and friends. That's a novel idea!.
In retrospect, turning the temperature of my mini-fridge all the way up wasn't such a good idea. At the time, I was displeased with the quality of my Mountain Dew. It was my hope that maxing the old girl out would chill my drinks to refreshment perfection.
I reached in a little while ago with an expectation of finding an ice cold drink. I was prepared to banish my thirst to the land of wind and ghosts, and foolishly bragged aloud about doing just that. As I drew back my hand, however, I found I was sorely mistaken. In my quivering hands, I clutched a very distorted can of Mountain Dew, spewing and hissing as it made contact with my warm flesh.
Said spewing and hissing began to increase in severity, and I took that as a sign that the demon which had befallen my drink was not finished working his voodoo. I rushed to the kitchen and heaved the can into the sink as carefully as one heaves a live grenade. The smoke finally settled, and I R-E-C-Y-C-L-E recycled the remains.
Much cleaning followed, and - in the end - my thirst won. I'm currently waiting for the warm Dews to chill and the frozen Dews to thaw. That's what happens when you boast.
There are 17 Days Until My Birthday.
Can I get a witness?
At least, I used to love snow and cold weather. But that was before I knew what snow and cold weather were. Apparantly, the winter we experienced in Alabama is some kind of bizarre, unearthly winter that knows no meaning of true cold. I had no idea what I was wishing upon my head.
To my best recollection, today is the first day I've been out in single-digit temperatures without my entire wardrobe wrapped in some fashion about my body. Actually - to be perfectly honest - this is the first day I remember being in a place that has single-digit temperatures. Maybe we hit this kind of low during a freak blizzard once or twice, but I don't ever remember turning on the news and thinking a high of "10" was a vast improvement on current conditions.
Now, I don't think I'd ordinarily just be bitter about all this. I can be bitter, oh sure. But with snow? It's not in my nature. The problem is that I'm too far north to get a snow day. With the exception of one day last semester, classes have been in session, regardless of whether the commuters had to brave a foot of snow to get there. I've heard the one day we did get was a rare oppertunity, as the last time they closed was about 1978.
If you'll excuse me, I have to go install a roll of industrial insulation inside my shirt before I head back out into this crap.
