Reflections on a Year Past

It seems odd, having endured so many school years already, to think about how just one more year in school could have set in motion so many changes. Looking back, I can remember bits and pieces of middle school and high school, and in each of my years there I can recall how I perceived myself as I matured. But what did I really accomplish then, as I look back? Not all that much, I’ve realized. I was drifting through life then, accepting whatever came my way and adapting to it. Life was slow, fairly quiet, and relatively antisocial, in hindsight.

Then, along comes college. I’ll be the first to admit that I was a terribly antisocial wreck then. I probably still am to some extent. But back then, I didn’t reach out too much. My computer and the internet was my contingency plan in times of boredom. I was quite the nerd, ignorant and graceless. Hell, the first time I talked to Butters was over a video game.

Sometime between then and perhaps November however, something changed. This new lifestyle, immersed among people, took hold. It was a far cry from home, where most of my social interactions happened on a computer screen. Before, I thought I could escape boredom sitting in the throne that is my desk chair. Now, it seems I’m terribly addicted to the company of others, go figure.

A caveat of company, though, is the overwhelming urge to procrastinate. It’s something I’m still learning to balance with work. Music, movies, and video games have never been such large presences in my life before. Another side-effect of life here is the spontaneity that drives American stupidity. Between throwing Frisbees from where they’re not meant to be thrown (thanks John) to having ice cream shoved in your face (you did not escape unscathed, Michelle!), I’ve gotten used to a different style of living: College.

I’ve also been adjusting to another rather unfamiliar experience. I walked onto TCNJ with the presumption that I could persevere through college as a stoically single individual, free from any attachments to someone. In fact, I do recall a random chat in the bathroom with Butters where we more or less said that we’d prefer to “keep out options open.” Shortly thereafter, Amanda happened and I mocked John’s Facebook status change, but of course, I was still committed to what I had said.

And all that time up until March, I was slowly finding myself more and more attached to someone. Perhaps it started out of the fact that it was easier to pass hours in each other’s company, but as time went on, I was just drawn more and more to her personality. And still, I thought nothing of it, the growing enjoyment of her company was too subtle and natural in my head to register.

Of course, by March, something became obvious, apparently obvious enough for people to start betting on when we’d make something official. Of course, me being the socially timid individual I am, I took my merry time trying to sort out my feelings. I was spared the initiative of having to start any sort of awkward conversation, it was gnawing away at her more. Lucky me. It took me awhile to grasp such a concept though, my life’s training in this area being so sparse. It was at this time that I realized how kick-ass my roommate is at playing counselor. So after swallowing the fact that I really wouldn’t have been able to live with myself for letting this opportunity slip away, I can now cross a month off of my calendar as a victim to time wasted in involuntary contentment.

Now back to a more general facet of my life, having wasted three paragraphs. Where to now? Well I’m still waiting to hear back from Picatinny Arsenal, they’ve now been processing applications for the better part of two weeks I think, and it’d be nice to get a definitive answer. My major choice is now going to default to mechanical engineering unless I decide otherwise. I’m going to try to throw in a minor if possible, like physics or maybe math, or even more remotely, chemistry. It’d probably mean a ton of summer classes… Oh well, I can be indecisive in this aspect of life for a bit longer.

So all in all, I think I’ve been shaped by college more than I thought possible. I really can’t imagine a better experience (though it’d be great if our bathroom kept itself clean…) to kick off my TCNJ experience. I don’t expect my academic life to get any easier, on the contrary, Statics and Advanced Engineering Math ought to be so much fun… But I think that the positive outlook I’ve garnered from my friends is enough keep me pressing on.

Food Services... Or Disservices

It's been just over 3 weeks since Sodexo has implemented "Trayless Tuesdays" and I think it's about time for an all out rant on the state of affairs at Eickhoff. May I submit to you, all ZERO of my readers, that the responsibility of a dining services provider is to feed its patrons, while maintaining fairly respectable levels of service. It is with that belief that I will now begin to judge Sodexo.

• Of primary objection to the students of TCNJ is the food. We have it down to a science. We know what meats can be classified as a form of medieval leather (any sort of "roast"), which wrap/sandwich person to avoid when getting in line, and which "Stir Crazy" concoctions to treat like the plague. Granted, we get by on a day to day basis, and the quality isn't all that far from that of any other college, but there is still A LOT of room for improvement. If you look at some of the "Balanced Way" plates they've prepared as an example of healthy eating, I guarantee you, one eyebrow will rise above the other. Many times, their combinations are absurd, like Green Beans and [insert unspecified starch here], or [insert fruit combination of the day] and [insert non-filling food].

Not only that, it's hard to make a good beverage choice aside from water if you're trying to be healthy. Half the the time, orange juice comes out a tad too close to a shade of Radiation Suit Orange. I haven't even bothered trying the apple juice after my first week of school. Iced Tea is maybe 80% consistent, and soda seems to have a particular taste depending on which machine you get it from. Oh, and can we actually get a clean verdict? Is that really Premium Water most people are gravitating towards? Or is it just tap water like the others with a different label?

By the way, I love the nutritional facts labels for the Assorted Cookies. 0 Calories for the win!

• Now, onto other matters, namely this Trayless business. I'm sure, that at this point, even their employees dread it. All it brings is 2 things: Inconvenience and mess.

I've gotten fairly good at balancing things. I can take a plate and a smaller dish in one hand, along with a handful of utensils, and a beverage in the other. It's not fun, but I can manage to get most of my meal items in one trip.

But once at my table, where do random spills go? I'm no 5-year old (Michelle would argue against that), but I still do lose the random tomato, or spill a little of my drink on occasion. What happens then? If I had a tray, I wouldn't leave any residue on the table. Hell, even the little bits of crumpled up napkin would stay with me. But instead, table cleanliness becomes a factor of how lazy you and the previous diners have been.

And now, you face the third daunting hurdle: How to rid yourself of your dishes without turning the tray-return side of Eickhoff into a swamp. They provide bins for you to empty out remaining liquid in your cups before placing them in racks, but you inevitable end up dribbling a teaspoon or more of drink onto the already drenched table cloth when you put it in the rack. The raspberry-coke-milk is just oh-so delightful. Finally putting down your plates onto the racks is a relief because it means you can leave the area before your shoes stick to the floor permanently.

• I was told this by Pete, and I'm dearly hoping it's not true, but apparently Sodexo was using Styrofoam plates and cups today in tribute of Earth Day. I'm sorry, but are they trying to save water at the cost of A LOT OF IMPOSSIBLY UNDEGRADABLE GARBAGE GOING INTO LANDFILLS?

So thus illustrates the regular happens in Eickhoff. I will save the discussion of specific food items for a later date.

And P.S.: Larry is the most kick-ass card-swiper there.

Apologies for the Appearance

My site will, in the near future, be undergoing a few tweaks and fixes. In the mean time, please excuse the appearances... unless of course you don't ever bother going to my site and simply see this post as a Facebook note...

Sincerely,
The To-Be OGL Webmaster :D (more title than anything else...)

OGL Horseback Riding

So today I had my first real experience on horseback and, all in all, it wasn't that bad. We had a party of 10 people, 7 of us were n00bs. I was assigned a slightly capricious horse, maybe that's why they wanted to put someone with at least some experience on it. Oh well, it worked out okay.

We got there after an annoying drive. This obnoxiously slow truck driver was doing roughly half the legal speed limit.

There's the offender.

We got there exactly on time though and quickly acquired our less than valiant steeds. I was assigned Freddy (see below).We started out on a trail into the woods. It was a bit bumpier than I expected, but quite neat. It's weird thinking that I was mostly being led by something with a mind of its own. The shaded trails were nice, though a tad muddy from earlier rain. Freddy was quite picky about where he walked and wove quite a bit to avoid puddles. Towards the end, my horse did seem quite determined to snag a few bites to eat. He was rather adamant about that, much to my chagrin and deviated off course several times. Other than that it was a rather serene experience.
Oh, and Freddy did almost walk into a tree...

We had breakfast/lunch afterwards at a diner which was infinitely more satisfying than Eickhoff.


Note to self: Sitting in the middle seat in the back of a car is bad only if your seat-mates are of questionable sanity.

Other notable things:
•Dan, lacking foresight, wore shorts.
•Trench was forced to dismount to adjust his saddle.
•The horseback riding was FREE (theoretically, assuming SFB reimburses Patricia...).

Not a bad day, I is happy :)

I Came, I Saw, I Conquered

I have just run the gauntlet and come out unscathed.
I have registered for classes, on TESS, in under 2 minutes.

Log in > Select Term > Input 8 Call Numbers, gg.

MUAHAHAHAHAHA...

I told my Calc teacher I might be late... Class starts in 5 minutes... hmm... Well I'd hate to have sent him an email for nothing...

Kemistreeeee Stinks

It's time again for another post on my life again, so brace yourself, children. Today's story will be about Chemistry.

Let me begin with a bit of background:
I had initially signed up for Honors Chemistry with the intent of taking an enjoyable course under the guidance of a one Professor Dumas. Granted, his teaching style was far more laid back, I soon found, but he was well liked in the way people think of cute grandparents.
Unfortunately, he was unfortunate enough to have been bestowed a brain tumor and put on leave for the remainder of the semester as he recovered. We had two substitute teachers, Hunt and Hirsch, both were quite knowledgeable and I thought them fitting replacements. As Murphy would have it though, they were reassigned, and we were left with Strelau and Hussain. (BTW, Hussain missed 2 labs, so Tuesday lab's actually had 6 different professors so far.) The curriculum has been shoddy and overlapping, as no one is quite sure where the other left off. Lectures now are also superficial and we are told to refer to the book for whatever is neglected in class.

Today we had a test, the first one that was actually made by our administering professor. From the reports of students that asked him questions about problems on it, he gave conflicting responses to each student. On top of that, a problem type we were explicitly told would not be on the test was, you guessed it, on the test. By the way, this isn't all that different from the last test.

Now, for the lab chronicles. I've had several revelations so far.
a) Manzoor Hussain wants lab work done in pen. It is the mark of a "real" scientist who can work with confidence he says. It is of my opinion that Manzoor Hussain never studied math from an American education institution, because that goes against the core virtue of every math teacher I know.
b) Manzoor Hussain is a stickler for prettiness. No, that does not mean he particularly enjoys dressing fashionably. He just insists on things like cover pages. I was told to resubmit one of my lab write-ups because no cover page was included.
c) Manzoor Hussain is The Anti-Engineering. Everything I've done in engineering thus far has been in groups. In fact, it is encouraged that we collaborate. In chemistry, however, despite the fact that we do lab work in pairs, the out-of-class portion of the work is strictly individual. I'm sorry, but I was always of the opinion that two heads are better than one. Especially when trying to answer difficult questions. And God forbid you print out a copy of a data graph and share it with someone, you are cheating.

Given this horrendous turn of Chemistry events, I regret that I can no longer contemplate my grade in that class seriously, nor can I endeavour to work to the best of my ability. I am in a mockery of a curriculum. I think I'll minor in physics instead of chemistry...

Revisiting Cynicism

It seems fitting now that I should revisit the cynicism of my former years. After my earnest solicitation of "Singles Awareness Day" as a fitting moniker for Feb. 14, it just wouldn't feel right to renege on my attitudes and witticisms. Irony and hypocrisy aside, here is my continuation of those thoughts.

What is a relationship? An agreement between two people who find mutual enjoyment in each others company? A statement, a declaration of love? The distinction between flirting and acting flirtatiously, as Adam would put it?

I think there's a more straightforward answer. It's an excuse for girls to press their advantages. That's right, guys, you're screwed. Metaphorically, at least. You're just signed, in blood, a commitment to the following of centuries-old unspoken rules of deference and agreement to your significant other. You are honor and [physical well-being]-bound to agreeing to a girl's whims. God forbid she ask you a volatile question, answer wrongly and you are in trouble. You are living in an emotional minefield. One false move and drama leaps in to strangle you.

It's also a rationalization of procrastination. You've never before had such an excuse to put off work. Hugs or homework?... Hmm, tough choice. It is my belief that relationships are the worst thing to happen to productivity. Ever. Not to mention the hours lost to random nothingness and reclusive behavior (ex. lawlz, Butters "napping").

And woe to the helicopter-couples, hovering around each other's daily lives via cell-phones and Internet and texts. Honestly, give it a rest and give each other some breathing room (same applies to parenting).

Not to mention the horrendous vocabulary that inevitably pops up. "Cute... Romantic... Awww." *shudder* It's revolting! Never before has humankind been reduced to such inane babbling!

Conclusion: If you value your sanity, you would do best to seek refuge among fellow nerds and geeks.