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9 . 3 0 . 0 0 Michigan won. close game, but the rankings aren't treating us that well. At least we didn't fall out of the top 25. So much for the rose bowl, although you never know with the likes of Northwestern and Minnesota. At least we're not doing as bad as those Warriors formerly known as associated with that OTHER group. heh. Finally got the codes for the APAC site, check on it from time to time once I get it up and running. We're actually having a slow start due to some logistical issues, most of which will be straightened out soon hopefully. Spent most of the weekend studying for my Neuropsych and reading my Soc books, I'm hoping for a good showing on Tuesday to get my final year off to a good start. Somehow the grade thing really doesn't appeal to me, but I need to get my but in gear. no such thing as slumping in college. Hung out with Doris and Vi, got some work done, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. Ran into Bob at Helen C., caught up on a little bit of his adventures with forgy & co. Feeling a little old reminiscing from frosh year. damn it was fun. Need another phone card. damnit. 9 . 2 8 . 0 0 October is almost here, and midterms are a knocking. I have a Neuropsych lab and a lecture test next week, beats me why they assign two of them in the same week. so far its one of my more enjoyable classes, even though theres a lot of reading. Oh and somebody stole my notebook at memorial the other day, or at least walked off with it by accident. Today in lecture the prof was talking about experiments in neuropsych that dealt with severing frog optic nerves, and sewing kitten's eyelids shut. nice......here kitty kitty..... Besides that I have a presentation on a article in my Afro-Am class, on an article about colonialism in latin America. I'm sure that I can find some contrasts and comparisions from Hawaii. I'm really liking this class, Thornton is a firestarter in terms of discussion building, this whole issue of race class and gender always make for food for thought. In 475 Gorski touched on some topics in Durkheim's division of Labor, I couldn't help but see some parallels between basic interpersonal psycholgoy and anomie theory. Found out that Gorski got his PhD at Berkeley, and specializes in historical sociology and theory. Forensic psych is looking interesting, I need to start research on an arguement for and/or against the death penalty for violent juvenile offenders. and CP 650 is dragging, it has its moments, but as a whole i think its my dodo class of the semester. it meets so late too. Sounding like a bookworm? Hope it's in time for midterms. APAC is having some bumps, hopefully things'll straighten out after we have some worker meetings. Need another phone card. 9 . 2 6 . 0 0 I was walking to class today and I saw a chalking advertisement on the ground promoting the upcoming student (and presidential) elections. ASM is the student governtment organization at the UW-Madison, and they are pushing for a voter turnout of more than 10%. pretty pathetic really (I don't know if I mean the voter turnout, or the apathy of the average college student). Anyway I was walking to class and this ad on the ground said "Chang the University, vote in the ASM elections". Kind of a play on words, I got a kick out of what perspectives really mean in interpretation. I wonder how many people on campus got the same reaction as I did. maybe 20+. Fell asleep on bascom hill in the sunny 60 degree weather looking at the squirls run around for acorns. Sometimes I wonder if I've simply become aclimated to the weather here, because I don't consider 60 to be that cold. there are some people who have grown up here that are shivering at 70. Classes are going quite well, I'm, actually enjoying my neuropsych class the most, even though my taste (and in some aspects respect)for the hard sciences has declined. While my sociological theory class has been dragging, I've been intrigued by learning the effects of psychoactive substances on the neural pathways in the CNS. Makes me seriously want to lay off the sauce. Today is "Terrific Tuesday", an open forum/dialouge for students of color. At hand is the issue of a digitally remastered admissions catalog that inserted an African-American in a crowd of haoles to better represent the diverse population here at Madison. I have to remind myself that In many ways my understanding of race relations on the mainland is that of 3 years old--brings to mind advice that Aunty told me about a sense of roots and identity in terms of perspectives, attitudes, and drives. Finally starting to come to conclusion that there remains a very good chance that I will graduate from this place still questioning race relations in America. or maybe I just miss my little grass shack in manoa. 9 . 2 4 . 0 0 Just got back from a GRE refresher course, honestly it reminds me a lot of the SAT, just a little more annoying. these standardized tests seem to test you on pretty worthless knowledge, assigning distributions and curves to scores. I'm not as rusty in my math skills as I thought I was, maybe the verbal will be the hurdle. Something about taking these tests though seems a little dry, but I guess its another hoop to jump through. Busy week, busy weekend. We threw our first lil party at our place this past friday, bought a half barrel of High life and made an experimental 10 gallons of wap courtesy of McDonalds and Fleishmans. Moved the couches and the fish tank into the rooms and brought out the turntables. Pretty fun. had a lot left over too. Just enough to compensate for the sobering performance by the Badgers, fucking Northwestern. hehe. Somehow the rivalry isn't the same as years past. There goes our national hopes, but I guess theres still the rose bowl. Suspensions are pau. Bennett ran for about 293 yards too. Trying to get into an academic state of mind again, although there are plenty of distractions. the fall weather is starting to surface now, maybe the hint of white fluffy stuff on the ground might motivate me to study. Also had our first Hula practice of the year, a pretty good showing, plenny haoles came this time. Aunty was as energetic as usual, shes a great person and teacher. I think it'll be a good statement as far as all the katonks out there, I'm wondering where this whole Na hoa thing is going. APAC is getting off to a slow start, although I have made progress on a database and website. lots of distractions. I need to get me another plumeria candle. makes me smile. 9 . 1 8 . 0 0 Back into the schedule of things. I haven't written an entry in more than a week. Lots to do. finished my first working week with APAC, had to get some forms filled out and finalized, started preliminary work on a database as well as a website. Planning on keeping it pretty simple and to the point--efficiency as a priority. Had a couple of fun weekends in the Mad city, back to what I've been used to. Getting back in sync with everyone I haven't keep in touch with over the summer, things are going pretty well. I like my roomates this year, kind of reminds me of freshman year without the stupid behavior involved with those post-HS days. I attribute a large amount of the change to being 21 now. Got some fish for our apartment, Zach suggested naming them after ourselves as some sort of survival game. so far my fish is the smallest and gets chased around by Zach's. Also been playing golden eye a bit, good fodder for procastination, a little addicting too. Badgers are 3-0 now after 2 close calls against Oregon and Cincy, A lot of the poor performance has to do with the suspensions, but I am developing a little bit of a following in my mind that we're overrated. Or at least we're not as deep as we think. Meanwhile Dayne is doing pretty well with the Giants. Classes are turning out OK, starting to get back into an academic phase more or less. My CP class is a little iffy, and it ends at 10PM on mondays so it kinda sucks. Otherwise I've been playing with my plumeria candle and searching for cheap phone cards, so far the cheapest rate I've found is 7.5. Damn Voicestream. 9 . 8 . 0 0 One week or so and I'm busy as hell. Things are falling in place to what appears to be a very exciting and productive year. I've been to 4/5 of my classes so far and I'm happy with all of them. My forensic psych seminar is in juvenile delinquency, with a professor who specializes in the severe and violent cases of juvenile crime. He has had extensive experience with Juvenile sex offenders and murderers. My soc theory class seems a litle dry, but the readings include Durkheim's "Suicide", which I've been meaning to read for some time. Neuroscience I get to dissect sheep brains, so it should be fun. and the Asian/Afro-am class I had a intro discussion on race relations by a firery Professor Thornton. SO its Psych 411, Psych 454, Psych 455, Soc 475, Afro/Asian-Am 443, Counseling Psych 650, and Music 113 so far, hopefully I'll be able to add a 699 seminar with the village, Elder told me back in the spring that I'd be able to. APAC starts session this upcoming week, my research & outreach position begins monday, very excited to see what kind of inclusion and bridging we'll be able to do at Madison. lots of expectations and lots of hopes. Na Hoa has about 30+ members so far this semester, even with the graduating seniors last year, and we anticipate more new members as the year goes by. I also signed on for a GRE course, I hear that they're really helpful. hope I can juggle all of this all at once. I'm sure I can. And so I'll be done with Soc, Psych and CJ come december, give me some breathing room to decide If I want to pursue the BS&L, which will depend totally on my sucess at finding a senior thesis sponser. It would be my last summer in Madison if so. lots of work to do. busy busy 9 . 1 . 0 0 Back in Madison, and it is a hot time in the Mad towne tonight... temps are up in the high 80s, humidity close to 100%, and it never gets cooler, even at night. I moved into the apartment a couple days ago, it was bigger and better than I had remembered looking at it back in November. It's an old brick building close to State St, with though old radiator coils coming out from the ground, and red brick. The kitchen and living room are generous, and my room is about the same size as my place at the village last year. I'm living with two friends I met freshman year, something tells me that we'll have a lot of fun, probably get into just as much trouble as we did 3 years ago. Been trying to move in and stuff, still haven't got a phone hooked up yet, but we're working on it. Life in Madison is always hectic and fast paced I'm noticing, as soon as I set foot off the airplane I started getting involved and busy. APAC is starting up with a council meeting next week, workers meetings midweek, Na Hoa is having a luncheon and Aunty Aleina's, and I still need to buy my books for class. So much to do, so little time. since I don't have a phone yet, I won't be good about the email for some time. hope this journal entry does it's justice. It is hot hot hot. |