Customers and Wendys

I am slowly developing a fear of people! From working at Wendy's, I am beginning to lose my mind. The people are so rude at times, they treat me like I am an inferior being, and to top the cake, they have the most ridiculous and impossible claims for their food. Perhaps the most disturbing thing to me is that 1) They think I cant make their orders when I am looking right at their receipt and 2) They are so rude, how in the world can they not know how to ask for food.

My Wendy's is a great place to work and all because of my friendship with the workers with my shift (the same few of us from when I first worked there are still there at night), but the customers make it quite the horror at times.

Ultimately speaking, the customers always make me mad with their rudeness. When they come in to order and get to my register nearly everyone goes "I need a 5 Piece Chicken McNugget (notice that I work at Wendys and they ask for McNugget or even a McFlurry or sometimes a Whopper!?). Now you may not see anything wrong with this, but when you come to order you dont need to say "I NEED this or that. If you needed food from Wendy's than I highly doubt you would order one of the most expensive things on the menu. Rather you would get a cup of water for that is one of the only needs in life that Wendy's will supply. I usually correct the person spontaneously (you know because i take hundreds of orders I am like a robot now (except to the regulars, I love them with their same orders and $6.11 prices), but I usually correct them by saying "No, You would like to order or have" usually people smile and immediately become super nice and say "Thank You" and "Youre Welcome". Other things that are rude are when people will throw all their change on the counter, not place the money into my hand, or even eat their food right on the front counter in front of other peoples orders (this wouldnt be a problem if they were neat with eating, but eating with your mouth wide open!).

The next thing that people do is that in the dining room they fail to realize that we arent a fancy restaurant and love to leave their trays full of food on the table, or even they will leave everything on the table and leave. I am like, there are four trash cans all within 10 seconds of your seat and you cant throw it away. Leaving food on the table is nasty and makes the dining room look messy and not only that, we didnt put trash cans in the dining room for now reason. People will also leave and spill all of their food onto the floor, under the table, drop and spill their drinks all over the table without saying a word, spill their drinks right in front of the counter, stack their trash ontop of the trash can versus dumping it, and even dragging tables all the way across the room and not push their chairs in {this is a problem because the chairs will be left in the middle of the floor in peoples way!}

The last and final thing that people do is that they make these wild claims about their orders. First off they will beg for the hottest fries. Usually I give them the fries that just come up from the fryer and give them to them. But the people will insist (now get this, they are watching the fryer the whole time and see that I get the fries that have just came up cooked) that the fries are cold. Sometimes I just want to yell at them and go "No they arent, the fries are scorching hot because they are burning my hands, which is why I threw them into the bag unneatly". But loe because I am a kind person I still give them newer fries three minutes later. Other claims include that the meat that just came from the grill is cold (yet again imposible, the meat that is on the grill cant be cold, how is something coming right off the grill going to be cold). I usually tell the people that they are touching the lettuce and other condiments, but no they insist that the sandwich is cold! People will sometimes even say that their stuff is cold after they have sat in the dining room and havent touched their fries after 10-20 minutes or their sandwich in that time, I have even watched them do this and had to strain really hard to not tell them why.

The requests people make are so outlandish. Instead of asking for stuff they like to say that we "Failed" to give them barbeque sauce, sweet and sour sauce, salad dressing, salt, pepper, or other minor things. They even get angry and yell at us for not doing it. How can we give people stuff when we dont even know that they wanted it.

Although the people do, do these things, there are some happy moments at time. I love seeing the regular people whose orders I already know. I enjoy seeing old classmates and such. I really enjoy the kind people or the people bringing their kids. Shorts orders are wonderful. Cleaning the dining room is sometimes enjoyable. Taking orders is sometimes excellent. All in all, the job is quite great, it is just that the customer factor seems to drag it to the slums at time, if only they were nicer or actually used their brains {How much is you 99 Cent 5 Piece Chicken McNugget?, am I really supposed to answer this question!?!?!} they make me want to laugh sometimes.

Christmas

The week leading up to Christmas Day was filled with rampant working at Wendy's (growing number of hungry customers each day, sometimes they grew even more and more agitating with their ever increasing silly founded complaints), locked out bank accounts, the ordering of new bank cards, the receipt of a few gifts, and the shopping on the day before the day before Christmas. Christmas was an excellent break from this hustle and bustle.

Christmas Day for the third year in a row according to my memory was quite rainy. The rain grew torrential as the day started. It was quite unpronounced really because of how much rain fell (there was even a tornado watch). Usually when we get up we are in a rush to open presents, but because of some unknown reason, we didnt do that. Rather we left the tree as it was and continued to go on about our day.I managed to run into the room and capture a picture of the tree with the presents underneath. Because we did our shopping so late, we already knew what was in each. Well my parents were suprised with the card and gift card that we gave them, but other than that the stuff under the tree was just clothes. The clothes were quite fantastic and I cant wait to wear mine.

I spent the majority of the day playing Yugioh GX Tag Force on the PSP. Later on that day we journeyed over to our Aunt's house for dinner. Usually it takes place at my Grandma's house, but this year they changed or rather alternated and did it at her nice new looking house. I spent the time playing Air Hockey, watching Deal or No Deal, the football game, and then eating. I kind of got way too much food and spent nearly an hour trying to eat it all. My grandma and a relative wouldnt let me throw any of it away saying I shouldnt have gotten so much. Next time, I will just get a small bit and then go back for seconds or thirds.

All in all Christmas Day wasnt as hyped up as it usually is, which is probably due to me going and buying all the game that I wanted before Christmas and thus having only clothes to get. Perhaps the only tangible gifts (other than the clothes and a coat and a hat) are my gift card to Barnes and Noble, a Visa Gift Card, a Check, and some cash. Perhaps this year was to make us really realize the true miracle of Christmas that we had heard about in Church on Sunday (the conceiving of Baby Jesus and not the Christmas tree). All in All, it was a relaxing Christmas and a great break from hectic Wendy's.

The Weekend

Whoa it seems like it has been quite some time since I came and actually updated this. If I can remember the last time that I did was on Sunday and that was about what Thursday night and day entailed. To get us up to date, I will provide you with a sort of list of what happened (yes another one of my faithful up to date lists.

• Friday was a short type of day. All that was accomplished was simply massive gaming on the Gamecube.
  
• Saturday consisted of the same thing
• Sunday was perhaps the more important day as it was the return back to the home church. I love Fourth Baptist Church. Sunday service began with my parents teaching the Teen Bible Study class. It was quite an interesting lesson about false teachers in Paul's time questioning the life the Jesus. Paul had to remind them that he had seen him with his very eyes. After learning that lesson for Sunday School, I immediately proceeded to go and sing in the Youth Choir, just like in old times. It was quite entertaining as we sung "If youre Happy, Say Amen" "Go Tell it on the Mountain", "Love is Everlasting", "Patiently Waiting," and lastly "Who Could Imagine a King". It was a truly amazing service. There was one tragic point to it, when a girl who was an usher had a black out, though she didnt fall but the pastor noticed it.
• Sunday Afternoon was the Christmas program. Various people performed and it was truly special. I loved the song Joy, my brother spoke, and other youth spoke.
• Sunday night was more of a resting night and we managed to finish a bit more of the Tales of Symphonia.

Back to Fourth Baptist

When I arrived back home on Thursday, my first stop was Fourth Baptist Church. It was a nice place to arrive immediately after a short break at the house (because I had run out of coins for the laundry machines at VCU, I had to immediately wash some clothes at home for the next day). Although most people dread the fact of going to church immediately coming home, I seemed to love it. It had seemed like it had been many years since the last time I had been able to be in the Fourth Baptist Church. Not only that but it had also been a long time since I had seen some of my friends in the church.

Thursday night was the second day of Youth Choir rehearsal, so I had a near guarantee of seeing some of my friends. Immediately upon walking through the door, I was greeted by some of them. They gave me many hugs and surprised looks. I think the most surprising thing to them may have been the fact that I was actually looking forward to talking, laughing, and joking with them as I had done so in the past few months. I guess I missed them so much that I had spoken more than I had before leaving off for college. Time quickly rolled around to rehearsal time, so we couldn’t really talk that long.

Rehearsal was quite entertaining as I was able to sing some of my favorite songs from the past. We went over the following songs “Its better than life”, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “Patiently Waiting”, “If Your Happy”, and “Who Would Imagine a King”. Many of these songs were favorites and I enjoyed singing them. I couldn’t believe that I still remembered them, and most particularly, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, as the last time I had song that was nearly 12 months ago. The normal church Christmas Tree was set up as well.

All in all Thursday night was quite great. After rehearsal we sat and talked for awhile (we had to wait for our parents who were at the Christmas Choir rehearsal or with the Men’s Fellowship at a dinner place). That night I got home really tired as we stayed at church until nearly 10 PM.

Exam Troubles

Wednesday started off quite horrible. I woke up and discovered that I had missed my Religion in Contemporary America exam. I couldn’t believe that I had done something that foolish. What’s worse is that I had even stayed up all night studying for that silly exam! It was such a horrible thing that I woke up late. So now, because of me staying up studying for a test, and then waking up late, I have to get a dreadful 0 on the test. This now means that I get a D in the class! What a crummy morning.

Immediately thereafter I decided to go out and try to figure out someway to not have that 0 appear on my record. I went all the way to my professors office to try to find him, but to no avail he wasn’t there. I decided to call his phone and try to schedule a make-up time. I left the professor a message and then sat and waited. He called back around 3 and told me that I could take it on Thursday at 1 PM. This was the best news that I had heard all day.

I spent the night studying for the Religion test. First, I began by reading the tragic and hilarious book “Inherit the Wind” which was a play on the trial in a small county about the teaching of Evolution in a highly religious community. It had its funny moments and quotes that I may post up somewhere later on. I also went over a few of the notes that night as well. Wednesday night also saw me packing up my stuff to go home. I couldn’t believe the massive amounts of stuff that was in the room. But I managed to clean it all up and make the room look brand spanking new looking.

Thursday, I woke up with a fresh outlook on life. Today would be a wonderful day because I would be able to remedy the situation from the previous day. It was quite excellent the morning I had. I studied more for the test. Test time quickly drew close and was it surprising.
The test was unbelievable difficult. I was expecting a multiple choice test, but to my horror and disbelief it was a short answer one. Even worse was that it wasn’t one of those “put what you just learned into practice ones” but rather a define these three things. All in all, I think I did quite well even if I did struggle on two of the questions.

The day ended in a reasonably wonderful fashion as I was able to leave VCU and go back home.

Weekend And Exam 1

My weekend and week so far has been spent studying in excess. Over the weekend I dedicated tons of time to playing my PSP. Not only that but I also spent a majority of it in the computer lab doing math homework. It was brutally long and tiring to do that entire math assignment but I managed to do it from 12 Noon until 4 the next morning. It was a good thing that we didn’t have class Monday morning for I was able to sleep late.

Monday I went on a tour with a friend and then I went back to the library to do a bit of internet catching up. Monday night, I spent studying for a bit and making a note sheet while also listening to a bunch of noise. It seems that since there aren’t any classes during the daytime anymore that people are staying up all night and going to sleep in the daytime. It has always been this way in Johnson Hall, especially my floor but even more this week. I guess it is because there really isn’t anything to do.

I received my results for my Ethics Class and here are the grades: Test 1 82, Test 2 92, Paper 88, Test 3 88, final Grade 87.48 B. Hopefully I will do that good in all of my other classes.

Time Well Spent

This week has so far been quite well. Although it has been quiet in the realm of any sort of student activities it has been busy in the academic realm (which partially explains why I have not been updating).

Everyday this week has been dedicated to intense studying and volunteering at the Alumni House for the Student Alumni Ambassadors. Our mission this week was to pass out the Survival Kits that parents were able to purchase for their children in the school. There were over 200 made and we had to get them out.

Each day I spent about four hours in the Alumni House passing out these bags to them as they trickled in. During the slow times (usually only 5 people came an hour), I would study my Ethics work or play my PSP. I managed to get a whole lot accomplished in both things. Wednesday night was my Ethics exam. I was slightly frightened about it. Although it was just a normal 25% test, it could make the difference between a B and a C, I assumed. When I went to calculate it though, it turned out that if I received a 60 (F) on it, then I would still pass the class with an 80 B, so that isn’t too bad at all and made me feel less stressed about it.

I managed to also catch up in a few mere things. I managed to finally call a friend that I hadn’t talked to in a while over the weekend. I was also able to write my grandparents a letter that I continued to put off. I am most likely going to start adding all of this to my schedule book as it keeps me in track all the time. And so that was what I have done this week.

Saturday and Sunday Fun

Saturday was quite the day. I woke up and journeyed to the library early. I planned to study for my Ethics last test on this coming Wednesday, but I got sidetracked due to loads of conversations on the internet. Needless to say, my friends invited me to come to lunch with them, so I followed. So all in all I did get any studying done at all.

They decided to eat at Subway, so I followed them there. It was a great meal and I managed to eat greatly. I was disappointed because they didn’t have anything to put our drinks in and wouldn’t let us substitute so I just wasted a meal swipe on just a sub and no drink. No matter though, as I had Orange Tea in my room and Orange Juice. We went back to Johnson Hall and watched both Harry Potter (Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets). It was my first time seeing them, so I was totally into the movie. I had a tough time with remember events that happened in the books, but the movie did a good job of refreshing me.

Sunday opened up with a bit more promise. I still journeyed over to the library to study. However, I quickly lost focus and put it off. I will just catch up during the week and do two days before it. As long as I can get a B, I should be fine.

Friday Fun!

Friday was a great day with several events. I woke up immediately at 7:30 and was able to watch my shows. I went to go to my two classes and was able to get caught up on the day of Religion class that I missed. Thanks to the power of perhaps Ultimate Concern, they hadn’t advanced past the place where we were on Monday. So because of this I was glad, the only thing that I perhaps missed was just signing the sheet for attendance (which partially serves no purpose in the class, just for minor grading purposes).

Introduction to Life Science class was next. I was debating whether or not to go to class but I decided to go, it would be an easy grade that I would pass up on if I hadn’t gone. Life Science class always consists of an introduction period in which the Graduate Student asks us how our week went or some other discussion. Immediately thereafter, we do a period of presenting different news articles for discussion. The discussions are sometimes interesting and at other times it is quite boring. Perhaps the most interesting are those that involve the Environment or even those that involve vegetarianism in class. It seems to be that people let their own interests get involved in this class, thus resulting in a good talk. If it interests them greatly than it is a great discussion, if perhaps they are not into it than they will leave us in a dead silence. I wont go into the topics that were discussed, but I can say that of them, I was most interested in the one about the absorbtion of heat by gases in the air.

As a desire to become a more service orientated person, I went to the far away Office of Student Health Promotion. Why did I go here? Well I went here to go and make some Quit kits (which are free kits) for those that desire to quite smoking. I proceeded and managed to make several of these bags with another person from the office. We put loads of candy in them, straws and papers, and even sunflower seeds, for them to have as alternates to smoking. I believe that this was a wonderful idea as “for no cost at all” with this amount of goodies in a bag, then it will definitely persuade them to quite smoking.

Friday night consisted of two events. The first and most important event was my trip to the Cheesecake Factory. For an event for this month, the Student Alumni Ambassador organization that I am apart of decided to go to someplace to eat at (at no cost to us because the alumni paid for us to eat anywhere). We left the Alumni House promptly at 6:30 in place of somewhere to eat. Our destination was set for the Cheesecake Factory. When we arrived there I was met with one of the most amazing sights ever. The place appeared to look like it was an oriental type setup however, I thought it was mixed. Shouldn’t the Cheesecake Factory look like a more modern restaurant building or at least a tall sort of building and not an oriental genie type look? Needless to say, we didn’t eat there. There was apparently a wait of about three hours and we couldn’t endure the wait.

We left from there quickly and went over to another restaurant that I had never been to. This time it was the Red Robin’s place which featured hamburgers and other meals of that sort. The wait here for our party of 10 was only 15 minutes. We were ecstatic and decided to endure the wait. What ended up occurring was that we were seated accordingly. We got seats in the middle and was met with one of the most friendliest servers.

I ordered quite a bit of food actually. I started it off with Very Berry Raspberry Limeade, which I drunk quite a bit of. It was too utterly delicious but it still pleased the taste buds (although the limeade was a bit strong!). Next I ate a moderately sized Caesar Salad. It had the tastiest croutons ever. I loved the salad and can quite greatly remember the taste of those savory bacon bits. For my entrée, I ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger with Steak Fried Fries. It was the best sandwich that I have ever had in the world with the best fries ever. What made it super tasty was the Red Robin seasoning. The carton was full but I used nearly an eight of it that night (and let me tell you, there is a enough of it for 210 people). The seasoning tasted great on the fries and moderately good on the sandwich itself.

After that event, I proceeded to another one with Aletheia. This one was a party at their apartment headquarters place. I found it to be quite entertaining as we spent the evening decorating a Christmas Tree with Popcorn, ornaments, and other things that could be personalized (such as an ornament with our pictures on it). We read the Christmas story from Matthew that night. It was a great and memorable night and I almost fell asleep while there.

All in all, Friday was a great day. I loved having the chance to meet with my groups again, I loved the task of being able to go to places, and most importantly, I loved the task of finally having something to do other than Cinemas.

Filled Days

It seems that due to a strange turn in events, my dates for blogging are completely not correlated (sorry for this vocabulary it is salient for the explanation). As you have noticed, I have been posting things long after they have actually transpired. But alas, today I shall catch up, not in list format again.

Wednesday opened up with me oversleeping in a sort of way. Because I didn’t get to bed until 6 o’clock that morning, I decided to stay in bed and miss my 9:00 Religion in Contemporary America class. Now you might say something about missing class, but I had it covered. The instructor had already given us the notes for the day (for the entire year), so we could virtually miss all the classes and still do well on the tests. I woke up at about noon time and quickly washed up and got up. I went straight to the Shafer Dining Court to eat. I decided to have a health conscious day, so my lunch consisted of no meat at all. (Well I would probably have gotten meat if the Beef soup wasn’t so red and the lines for the other entrées weren’t miles long). I got a huge bowl of salad and loads of juicy pineapples (which are second to my favorite only to Kiwi Fruit!).

I left Shafer and went to the Commons for a meeting with a counselor. We talked about our wonderful Thanksgiving and a few other minor things that I won’t mention here for the sake of time. The Cancer Awareness Team meeting commenced immediately after that. At the onset of the meeting I went to try out this Rice Bowl from the eatery in the same building. If it hadn’t been for my need to spend 80 meal swipes that remain on my meal plan (which is equivalent to $7.03x80) then I wouldn’t have gotten it. I did and had a ball. The bowl that I got was a very spicy chicken bowl. I nearly cried when I first began because it was super spicy (not the chicken but the rice and the sauce). Because it seemed like everyone was staring at me, I ate it slyly.

My Introduction to Life Science Class commenced after this. This was perhaps the most phenomenal moment of the week, I guess we could say. Class period consisted of a marvelous lecture by an Instructor about the joys and case studies of Clinical Laboratory Sciences. I found it to be very interesting. We examined cases of Transfusion Medicine and Hematology (a person experienced liver problems and it was believe that they had perhaps contracted Hepatitis B from the received blood, however we found out that it was a result of Acetaminophen). There were a few other cases examined that would be too detailed to list, but each one continued to grab my interest. I think that it was this day that I found out that which I wanted to do with my life after graduating. I would be in a medical/non-medical profession and be able to change people’s lives through discovery and prevention of disease. I continued to listen in closely and began to wonder if I should change my current major to Clinical Laboratory Science or to add it as a double major so I left it at that.

That night was another one of my classes, Ethics and Applications. Because we hadn’t had class before the Thanksgiving Break (the instructor was sick) and then we had Thanksgiving Break, we hadn’t met in nearly three weeks. That night was our final lecture period and we covered two topics. The first topic involved “The obligation of Children to their Parents” and the second topic was basically “The Absurdity of Life” from Nagel [Absurdity of life argument was kind of interesting because it stated that life is absurd because we can see ourselves through both an external and internal eye, the further we go out externally the more and more we see that what we do doesn’t change the world, thus giving us a nihilistic view of the world (for those that don’t know nihilistic view is quite believable in that it sorta states that nothing that we do will matter and on a moral view there is neither right and wrong in a sort of way), if we were to abandon this external view than it wouldn’t be absurd, however the only way to do that is to have a lobotomy surgery. However it did state that even though life is absurd that that isn’t a bad thing for if seeing ourselves externally does make us re-evaluate events in our lives]. Class lasted for about 3 hours and then we were released to go.

Thursday opened up with similar results as Tuesday. I managed to follow my plan of waking up (though at 9 rather than 6:45). I went to the Welcome Center to give another Tour of the Campus. This time I made another dumb and embarrassing move (on Tuesday it was completely blanking out). This time immediately after I had explained the busiest street in Richmond, I ran right into a Fire Hydrant, hurt my leg, and nearly fell over right as everyone was laughing. Luckily, I thought it was funny and managed to keep myself from falling. Boy did I feel so bad after that!

After the tour I managed to check my email for important updates. The most important one that I would love to share is the fact that my adviser told me that I could add Clinical Laboratory Science to my program, but it would be a sort of Double Major. I was ecstatic. The previous night I had reaffirmed to myself that I would go ahead and get it added on to my program schedule. Many of the classes that I am taking and will take can be tailored to both programs as they both involve virtually the same things. This is quite amazing!

That day I met with an instructor from VCU with a friend and discussed some sort of research plans. There is currently a program called BioBike that needs a bit of help done on it. It is a program that is tailored to high school students and professions. If one were to understand the program (both definitions of program are used here, program as in pure computer program and program as in it does something), then it could virtually be used for all sorts of Gene Research. Where the problem lies is that many people do not know any sort of programming language nor do they know how to actually get the program to give them what they want. It is logic lead and is on its way to becoming less of a pure code codec and more of a user friendly extremely visual program. What me and my friend's goal is, is to perhaps help the researches (who are mainly foreign and non native English speakers) make this easier for the high school students and non biology students to understand so that they can put it into practice. We will receive some monetary reward for this task as well as a trip to some place in the United States.

That night was another meeting with the Aletheia organization. I got there a bit late and was feeling a bit tired but I managed to hold and pull through. The discussion was really interesting this time. We discussed a bible verse that I had previously read and could still remember (the story of the workers who all begin at different times and get the same wage, it is the story “of the last shall be first and the first shall be last”). It was a great discussion and it left us with a thought on our hearts.

After doing a Calculator based lab in the PreCalculus class that I take [my instructor wont be here next semester, oh no!] me and a friend went over to the Shafer Court Dining Center for their Fine Dining Program. There was massive imbroglio (confusion) and a lengthy line. We were nearly the last few in line and sat there for nearly 2 hours waiting to order. Now if we had something to do we wouldn’t have waited but I think because we were the last few that it would have been a bit pointless to leave. There were about 39 people in line in front of us and a few going in to sit down. They stopped allowing people in to sit down and couldn’t take any more people in the to go line because they weren’t expecting so many people to turn up [lets try to figure this out, there are approximately 30,000 students and Faculty at VCU, of those quite a large portion have some sort of meal plan or meal swipes, and of those few about 10,000 (which is quite large) live on campus. So at this point in time, we can safely assume that if it were some major event then they should expect to serve 10,000 (which is unheard of by the way). Furthermore, of those 10,000 that could live on campus many would opt for other dining options than something so expensive and could go out to eat buffet upstairs, or at the other places on campus, so we will be generous here and perhaps eliminate 9000 people leaving us with about 1000 or so people to eat, and of course with people factor incorporated I would even take it as low as 600 people max that could come)] So knowing this why would they be not prepared to have this number, it just seems so strange that they would have been this massively unprepared! People sat and waited, sat and waited, sat and waited, and virtually at 11 that night (hours after our arrival at 8 (don’t forget there were 30+ in front of us who were waiting even longer), we get our food out of order. (People in front of us were still there when we left!). Next time I am going to make a reservation for eating in.

The final thing I would like to point out of my day was that when I got back to my dorm I nearly went supernova. From about 12 until 3:30 in the morning, there people in the hallway being ridiculously loud. At night you are supposed to at least be quiet to let people sleep, but no, the same people (this has been going on for quite some time at many hours of the day) continue to use their outside voices (to sound elementary for a bit). They shout and they are all in the same room, they purposely laugh too loud, and even more they shout, yell, and make all sorts of loud noises during even the middle of the day. It is entirely pointless and not even needed for me on the complete opposite end of the hall to hear these people! I would personally rather hear loud music than constant bouts of this talking! Can I just have one night of silence, please?

Math Marathon

Tuesday opened up with great prospects and hopes. I managed to stick to my schedule and wake up at 6:45 in the morning to watch the cartoons. I carried out my morning plan to the fullest on the modified schedule (leave the room at 10:30). At 10:30 I left to go to the Welcome Center to carry out my normal ritual of doing a tour. I hoped that no one would have been there for the tour because I really wanted to go back to the dorm and play a game. Sadly to say there were about four people there, so a tour still commenced. There were two people with me to give the tour and we managed to get through it fine. However, I did make several mistakes. One that I will point out is the fact that I kept blanking out on what to say. It was a bit embarrassing at times because I would start saying stuff and then forget what the building was for, but luckily the other people were there and managed to say it, I am eternally grateful for them.

In Biology class we had to fill out course evaluations. It was neat to do. In a nutshell I stated that the class was fairly entertaining and still fostered a bit of learning for me (I took it in high school remember). I said that the Professor was extremely entertaining and managed to show us stuff that I could actually learn and remember, and actually put into practice in the real world.

After class I went over to the apartment type house of the people of Aletheia. It was another interesting time over there (we had Chicken Pot Pie, Carrie and Mary can really cook super well!). It was a great evening in that I was able to see them all one more time.

Precalculus class that evening was a bit entertaining. I received a 142/150 on the latest test, raising my over 100 grade even higher, or actually it is now bring me closer to a 100. But with my grade on that, I can safely breeze by on the Final and get an F and still pass the class with an A. It is so great, that God managed to bless me like that.

That night I went to the library and stayed there until 6 in the morning doing math homework. I pushed it back really far and managed to get over 300 problems accumulated. They are all due on the 10th of December. At the rate I am going (I will do one more marathon math night), I will most likely have all of it done by next week.

The Break is Over!

Thanksgiving break had now officially ended and classes began with a fury. This week I planned to enact a new plan for getting up this time during the week. First I would try to wake up at 6:45 everyday and turn the TV on to watch several cartoons. In between the cartoons, I would (for an allowance of 30 minutes) go and wash up and shower. Immediately following this break, I would return to the room to watch another cartoon. At approximately 8:38, I would leave the room and go to my 9:00 Religion in Contemporary America class; if it were a day in which I didn’t have this class than my time would last until 10:35 in which I could leave the room to go to an activity. If there were no activity, then I could stay in the room until 2:30, at this time I would have to go eat lunch somewhere, in order to get some nutrients. Now following this, I would have to go to class and do evening events. Pending the day (Monday) I would return to the room immediately following the last class and have the TV on at 8 to watch Battle Frontier on TV and then Pucca immediately thereafter (shower time would be before this period but no later than 7:45). Following this event at 9-9:30 I could either watch TV or proceed to doing work. And then at 10 (pending the day) I could go to a meeting or not. But I had a cap of being back in the room at 10:30 to watch one of several episodes of Digimon. From this time until 2:30 and 3:00 AM I could do whatever I chose as long as I had these slots clear for Digimon, and of course bedtime was capped at anytime before 3:30 preferably 2 to enable at least 5 hours of sleep. This plan probably took me about an hour to create, but I am so far proving to follow it closely as Tuesday is the second day I have been on it, and I am feeling good about it.

After class Monday, I was presented with one of the hardest tasks that I ever had. In need of some money, I journeyed over to the ATM machine on campus, the Wachovia one near the Welcome Center (which is a good walk away). I proceeded to normally draw money out but the computer alerted me that I needed to contact my financial institution, because access to my account was blocked by the BB&T Banking Company. So I left there with an unhappy face and a useless card, but more importantly moneyless. I called my dad and explained the situation. He believed that I was trying to pull too much money out, I of course told him I wasn’t because I was only getting a very small amount of money out and my account had enough (for he just put money in there). So next he said he would visit the bank. When I got back to my room, he called back and told me that I would have to get a new card (which they would send to the house and not to the dorm, in a period of 4-14 days). Or in other words—I would be out of anyway to get money out of my account for this period of time. But loe and behold, there was a way for me to get money. I would have to visit the branch that is located in Richmond.

To discover where this bank was I had to go to my RA and seek his knowledge. He searched for me and told me that it was somewhere downtown (he actually gave me directions). He instructed me that to get there I would have to take a bus (the free VCU Campus Connector) and then I would have to walk several blocks to get there. So, I put my shoes on and immediately left out. I did feel a bit uneasy about going there but I immediately put my qualms aside and went ahead to go, since I did need the money.

Bus Ride

Today was the first time in virtually 2 years since I rode VCU campus connector. Their route has not deviated in the two years that I have known VCU; in fact it is still exactly the same. I could recite it in my head. I had to ride the bus to get to the downtown of Richmond I believe (I guess it is downtown because the streets are all like 1st-8th, though I didn’t see the infamous Court Street, Jefferson Ave, or other streets that virtually every city has, I did see Main Street and Broad Street!).

I got to the first bus stop one minute too late; as I got there I saw the bus pulling off so I had to wait for nearly 15 minutes. As soon as I got on the bus, I found an empty seat and sat down for a small ride. I rode on past the Monroe Park Campus and got off at the 6th Street bus stop (if you want to call it that, it is more like a bench in the middle of a construction zone with a cheap drugstore). From 6trh Street I had to follow my trusty map to get to 8th Street. So I walked up or was it down, I can’t remember because it seemed like Richmond had suddenly become the city of the rolling hills as it was hilly. I got to the center of the spot and was surrounded by these monumentally tall business buildings. They looked fancy too. I did have a qualm walking past a bus stop bustling with people though, but I managed to keep my calm and avoid walking through them (I felt so bad wearing stuff with VCU on it, I felt like everyone was looking at me!). But I got to the 8th street and walked over to Main Street. I then walked up and discovered that I was going the opposite direction of the BB&T bank. It was so strange as well because I was looking for the more traditional bank (its own building with fancy signpost outside). What I saw when I turned around was more surprising.

I met an extravagant or rather fancy looking tarp covering a pathway that had the insignia BB&T on it in all of its maroon and white glory. Had the covering not been there. I wouldn’t have known where the bank was (even though I could have put two to two together being that each of the buildings had banks on their first floor). So I ran quickly to get to the bank. I walked past three set of doors before finding the one that was open (Many of the doors had decorations in front of them on the inside). It was the strangest bank setup ever. Usually in a bank the teller desk is the first thing you see when you walk in, instead, this one, and the first thing you see are the bank account setter-uppers in their windowed rooms. I had to ask the lady at the first desk where to go and she pointed me to the opposite end of the bank (on an architecture note, the middle of the room had a spiraling staircase going to its bottom, it was amazing and majestic). I got to the teller desk and proceeded with getting money out of my "locked for who knows what reason" account. I then left and walked all the way back to the bus stop. I had to wait at least thirty minutes this time, as the first bus came and wasn’t the Campus Connector.

It was an alright wait, I did get a little disenchanted though when this man kept standing directly behind me, then across the street and then kept following certain ladies up and down the street and then looking at me. One of the things I remembered was that he got a bit excited when someone walked by him (though the person walking had paid him no attention at all). Strangely when the bus came he decided to get back on my side of the road and assume his position right behind me. The bus came and was fully packed so I had to stand for a while. And as I had said, the route was still the same as I remember (go to Sanger Hall, then go to the Ambulatory Care Center, then go to the MCV bookstore, then go through city area to reach Monroe Park exit stop, then go to place in front of library!).

Normal Business

After that event, I had to eat lunch. This time I went to Quiznos on campus and endured their line that seemed like it lasted several miles. It took about an hour for me to get through the whole line but I managed to make it in time. I was disappointed for when I got my sandwich part of it was burning hot while others parts of it were freezing cold. They shouldn’t have mixed their meat up like that.

The day proceeded normally with its day to day business. I went to a group meeting that I hadn’t been too in over a months and talked with them for a while. It was interesting as the two of them were going to dental school and perhaps a forensic psychologist. But that is what I did Monday in a nutshell.

Home At Last Part 2

Friday opened up quite well. I had hoped to wake up early in the morning to order some games online, but I ended up sleeping abit later than normal. By the time I got online, most of the breakneck deals that are only available in the wee hours of the morning were already gone on this Black Friday. I managed to surf around online to find something that I did want. So I put in an order for the game Tales of Phantasia for the Game Boy Advance. Needless to say this was one of the worst moments in my life. In less than 15 minutes, I discovered that the bank had declined my order. I had the required amount of money and more in my account, I had typed everything in correctly, and I had used the site before so I could see what was wrong. I put the order in five times more, until I discovered that they continued to deny it several more times. I decided to just give it up for a few moments.

After that event I commenced to playing the Gamecube with my brother. He urged me to play a game that I hadnt played in ages, so I played it. Tales of Symphonia is a really a great game and emotionally affecting. I love the game for all that it is worth. It was one fo the best presents that he has ever gotten me. We played for several hours and then stopped to go pick up a major amount of downed branches and limbs in the front yard. It was so strange that a storm of that strenght could have virtually destroyed the tree like that. It wasnt destroyed persay but many limbs did litter the ground. We went back inside and played more games for some more time.

The next day was more eventful. The morning started out with me trying to resolve the issue with my order via the local bank. They couldnt find anything wrong so they urged me to come visit them to inquire about. Because my dad was out golfing and was experiencing problems too we didnt manage to go to the bank. He promises to go and visit the bank on Monday or this week to resolve the issue. I will probably go to the store to buy the game however.

Later on, on Saturday, we went out to the store to get some of the things I desired to have in the dorm room. We went to Wal-Mart that night and I got some Hot Chocoloate and some Orange/Tangerine flavored tea. I cant wait to fix it this week. I also bought some Boy Scouts Carmel and Almond Flavored popcorn, Cheetos Twists, and some Sunny D Orange Juice (yes!).

Sunday was the day that I was waiting for. I kinda fell in love with my church family and love being able to see them all. Sadly, it was Thanksgiving Weekend so not many people were there, but many of the ones that were there are really lovable. I talked to many people whom I hadnt spoke to in awhile and i was able to see some new people. The majority of the church was still the same as I remember it a few weeks ago. The Male Choir sung and they sung wonderfully (Walk Around Heaven, and Something on The Inside are the two memorable songs). It was neat lesson that the pastor spoke about, it only confirmed that God is in Control of every situation. Although the Children of Israel were under oppression from a new Pharoah, they were still able to multiply and God had never left them for he was only making the conditions right to bring forth a deliverer for them.

After church we went over to my Grandmas house for a bit of food. It was delicious! My Aunt decided to come with us to drop me off at VCU today. It was exciting!

Some of the things that I wish I had done while going home include: Calling all of my friends, being able to see my friends, and perhaps spending more time with my brother.

Home At Last Part 1

Wednesday was quite difficult to go through because I had to wait paitently for my father to come and get me from VCU. Had it not been raining, I would have been fine, but the tragic formation of a Coastal Storm that brought flooding rains and howling winds to much of Virginia, definently dampened all of my spirits. But alas, I did prevail by watching an entire series of Yugioh episodes and talking to the handful of people on the floor. At 2:00, the time that the residence hall closed, my dad arrived at the front and I said goodbye to Johnson Hall. I loved being there however, it was time to come home and see family and take a break from living the fast paced life.

The ride home was quite pleasant perhaps. I fell asleep after attempting to play some of my game and then I woke up when I saw the Monitor Merrimac Bridge Tunnel. This is a fantastic piece of Hampton Roads. I loved seeing the really choppy waters with birds sitting on the tops of the waves, it was a sight to behold. I missed seeing the fisherman though.

The next spot on the ride home was to go to one of my favorite malls, Chesapeake Square Mall. Loe and behold right upon entering I saw one of the people whom I used to work with at Wendy's. Truly, no matter where I go I always see someone I know. I went to the mall and followed my brother to the EB games store and debated on whether or not getting a game. I knew that I shouldnt get a game so I didnt, but it was hard to resist the urge. My dad went to get a gift for their anniversay on today.

We left steadfastly and came home to see my stepmom. I was gladdened to finally see her. Talking on the telephone weekly was good but seeing face to face is even better. I had to rush out to go with Phylicia to her families place for dinner once I got home, sadly. We went somewhere in Chesapeake I believe and we ate some food (it was my first time having Banana Pudding and it was good, apart from the bananas, I cant remember the last time I had one). Her family nearly reminded me of mine in Florida, in which everyone crowds into a house and eats from lots of food and talks. Except the house in Florida was much smaller, had more people, and was even hotter, but it had my Grandma in it so it made it even better (oh yeah and my favorite cousin, Shamar). We talked for a while and then left after a few hours.

Thanksgiving opened up with brand new things in store for our days. Upon waking up, we left out for Fourth Baptist Church. This is my favorite churchs in the world, quaint yet large, large yet familiar, friendly yet classy. At church we made thanksgiving dinners for the friends, family, elderly, and hungry of the community and it was fun. I loved scooping out the stuffing/dressing unto the plates. It was a challegne though, as I had to attempt to scoop enough of the three pans to last through 200+ plates. But we managed and ran out with the final one made. Whoever made the fried turkey was great and those mashed potatoes were excellent! I want to do it again next year and serve food again.

Thanksgiving dinner took place at my Grandma's house (on my stepmom's side). It was another fun event in which I got the chance to see my immediate family (three aunts, three uncles, four cousins and a husband, and an unborn child). I loved grandma's collard greens and string beans and hope to have more soon. VCU Shafer Dining Court can even beat the Macaroni and Cheese, it seems like that ever since I got there that homecooked food seemed better and better.

I have learned that Thanksgiving is not only an eating event but an event for people to unite under a common cause. Through the serving of food, the partaking of dinner, and the communitcating with family and friends, you truly do realize how thankful you are to have them in your life.

Weekend

Friday and this weekend have been spectacular. On Friday I went to class and then rushed out. I rushed out of class to go to the dorm to play with my video games. It was truly fantastic for awhile. After that, I managed to go and discover new things with APB. It was fairly amazing that night as I got to play more of my game. After doing the usual thing with the movies we went to a bowling alley and had a bit of fun. I of course came in virtually last place, but it didnt matter I did have fun. After that event I went back to the dorm and fell asleep.

The next day brought newer news as I discovered that I had to set up the entire event in the TV loune alone (two people deserved a break as they had come last week and then hadnt even been thanked for doing the event, which I find strange!). So I did it Saturday, but we didnt have anything so there couldnt be a game day event. So I left early and went to the commons for the usual work. After that I came back to Johnson to say goodbye to one of our RA's who was being removed from our dorm and sent to Johnson for a frivilous event (spraying pepper spray on someone whom challenged her to it). And then that night, I watched some of the Final Fantasy X movies with a friend.

Well the next day Sunday was much more of the same. This time I went downstairs earlier so that I could gurantee that the event would be set up. So first I went down at 11 and watched my videos (Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 and The Bible New Testament Matther 15 is where I stopped) We had quite a good number of people show up for the event, which was good, considering that it was me alone until the President showed up after taking care of personal business, which is excusable.

But I managed to spend my day in fair excitement as I got to play Smash Brothers nonstop.

Today was kinda nice actually, I got to talk to more people on the floor and I woke up before 7. Today was registration day for freshmen, and as I expected the computer system nearly crashed. People couldnt log onto the site for hours others were kicked off and others found their classes closed. The people I talked to, most of them did get their classes so that was good.

Fun Days

Yesterday, I was totally engrossed in three of my new games. Why? Well because two of my classes were cancelled and one ended early, because of the fact that a fire alarm went off in the middle of class. IT was fairly alright that it did but I still had a bit of time to do nothing. Now that I think of it, I spent Wednesday doing nothing all day. I felt so good being able to take a nap at around the evening time because my two evening classes were cancelled, I even got to meet some more people on my floor in the residence hall.

Today featured an onslaught of rain! It was alright as well, and I got to spend a bit more time doing the game playing things. I loved it!

Difficulty My-Take part 2

As I said I would tell you more of the current difficult with people who are very fickle. Or rather, maybe we should call them disenchanted, disillusioned, and clearly dissapointing...

Actually last nights meeting was fairly decent, a "few" people had made a few minor changes, such as taking notes (finally, it was so disappointing to have to read the minutes nearly every meeting because either people did remember what was said at the last one or they just didnt look over them before the meeting). I was nearly even suprised because there seemed to be some sort of agenda. As a result there was less, chaos than is usally present, although one member did constantly blurt stuff out that either seemed already answered, came at the wrong time (for example the question was already answered, and the moment after the answer is given, they ask the question again and we have to reanswer it!!!).

Starting off with a high note, the people whom weremt able to come over the weekend attempted to apologize and claim family issues. Being the ultimate samaritan, I was obligated to accept it (that and well they told us minutes before it began, I didnt tell anyone but I wasnt almost about to come because I had a huge paper to write, however, no one would have been there on Saturday save two other people, and I would have hated to be there with only one other person, so I had to resort to doing my paper later.) There is only one more thing that could have happened at the meeting, though. Instead of resorting to the "well you all are taking it too serious" approach, they could have agreed to what I proposed yesterday (look we are sorry we couldnt come but to give you a break, I will make it my very next best attempt to be there this weekend, since I saw you there on Sunday and knew you all were there on Saturday, it would only be fair if we were to be there since you all sacrificed your time in being there while we were not present.) This is all that I wanted and was expecting it too, but as I said people are currently in a state of disillusionment and fickleness. If they had said something similar to that than I would be a much happier camper and would have celebrated like it was the end of the world.

Difficulty-My Take Part 1

In life, it is always best to enjoy what you are doing and to try to put that which others are doing behind you, even when they do wrong or dissapoint, stay happy and enjoy it (you will see later).

Friday was really a basic day after going to my two classes, Friday I finished a few final touches on my life science paper and then I went to the library for awhile. In the library I sat for a bit and surfed the web for several amounts of time. I then went to Shafer to eat (to get rid of these meal swipes before December 13th!). I then went to EB Games and bought a startegy guide for a game that is nearly about to come out. Friday night went to the Commons to See World Trade Center (which was really a great movie that provide additional insight to the phenomenal attacks years ago). Work wise, I finished two papers this weekend and submitted one and am currently editing the other...

Now for the good stuff, haha....

Saturday and Sunday was the Johnson Hall Councils infamous Game Day in which we gave residents and friends the oppourtunity to play some of their favorite games on our PS2 system. Many came out and enjoyed it, I managed to step up to the Dance Mat of DDR and attempted to dance my heart out. Sunday was the same thing except less people.

People are a bit dissapointing, we, the hall council, had set up the event in hopes that people came. People did come however they came at a cost to the council. Only three members of council was there the whole time (2-8). Now at first this doesnt seem bad, but when there are more members and only 1 told us they wouldnt make it until an hour before it raises a few questions (the good thing is is that one of the other members told us in advance so we expected that). I just let it go on Saturday cause I was having fun (although we did have to stay nearly the whole time, utilize our own systems and games, and even set everything up, and to top the cake put off eating!) Sunday was another story, this time virtually no one showed up for the event at the initial onset of it. This time, the same person was out so she wwas excused but we still did not see nor hear from the other members. So we had to set up once again and stay for virtually the whole time (at a sacrifice of eating and time and wondering where everyone else was at with what they were going to bring). Now we wouldnt have probably had this thought in our mind if, perhaps, the previous week three of us werent scrambling to get advertisements created for another event and to get the game day set up downstairs for two days, we had went down several times and nothing was even set up, it was as if they had forgotten, it nearly seems as if only me and the other person are really the only two people who seem to follow through with everything that is planned. And now, again, I have to sacrifice once again my time for next week to go down and set up and be the only one there (the two people need a break from it and have others things already planned), another person has family business, and the other members are just hush hush. So virtually, Tristan is once again stepping up to the plate to be the savior since everything always resorts to the last resort, what if I decided to leave early next week or not show up, whom would go and set up and monitor everyone? So for next week I just plan to do my best and probably spend the time playing my games and being in there as hungry as ever, yeah because I wouldnt be able to leave. Back to Sunday, no one else had shown up the whole time and it was us three closing down and being there. How tragic!


Currently this is my current qualm with a recent organization that I am in. If only perhaps the members in the higher positions were to step up to the plate and become more active in their attendance of events. They do the background things decently, but their lack of committment at times makes me gyrate! I would have loved the events more if they had communicated whether or not they were going to be there before hand. And they could have possibly decided and said "Well since I wasnt here this week, I will come in for one day next weekend, or they could have said "Thanks for being there the whole time", or perhaps they could have even said beforehand "I may not be there but I will be sure to make it my next best goal of being there for one of the next days (since there are 1 of 4 days, we each could have chose one day or something of that sort instead of me being there all 4 days and others being there none at all!!!)."

I doubt if they will change but I will continue to stay optimistic about it....

Part 2--Disillusionment, utter disenchantment, and dire peril--they just dont get it do they?

Endure It All

This past week has truly been glorious! I have decided to still focus on making good grades but to not let them become a controlling factor in my life. I have discovered that as long as I have tried my best then I am to be glad. A great grade is good but when I look at it, we all should be glad when we arent failing nor when we are marginally passing.

I still have to work out a few problems though. Currently I am having a bit of trouble trying to stay focused on my work. I still do it early but I dont do it early enough. For example, last week I finished writing my Life Science paper but have still yet to begin the philosophy paper which is due Wednesday night. I planned on doing it this past week, but everytime I got to the library I just lost all ethusiasm to do it. So I dont know what to do. I will most likely end up doing it Sunday night or Monday sometime. I also have to do my Math homework, currently I am about six sections behind. I will hold off on doing it until the end of next week so I can get these papers finalized and get regreshed for the test. So far that is all that is going on so far, I really do however should try to think of more stuff to get done early, because I know that sometime next week I will definently not try to focus on schoolwork (although a silly Biology test is coming up!).

Another Great Day

Although it was raining outside today proved to be very great. For some reason this week has been one of the most joyous ever and it seems to keep getting even better than life!

Today I went to religion class for a test and was extremely distraught over the test. I had only studied this morning for a mere hour but knew most of the facts. Sadly though, I failed to read one of the required readings for the test so I was like, "Tristan how could you?" But I still managed to progress through the test. I loved how he focused on the Native Americans and made them look so good. Native Americans have the greatest respect from nature and I learned so much from reading that book "The Education of Little Tree". One of the main keys was "take only that which you need". It really is a great book to read and I suggest it to everyone.

After class I went to the Welcome Center to do another campus tour. I really wasnt looking forward to it but I still managed to make myself do it. I wanted to do it once I got there and felt so disappointed that no one showed up for a tour today.

I went back to the library after that and managed to do a bit of surfing the internet and looking at games. Then I went to see the great counselor (Jim) at the University Counseling services. He is such a great person to talk to and is very enthusiastic about the bible and even life in general, we relate in so many areas!

Of course immediately following that I went to class.

Tuesday saw class and the rise of going to dinner again (meatball and mashed potatoes) how declisious.

Productive Day

Today has been one of the most productive days of my life. First I actually woke up at 7:00 and turned on the TV like I had planned. I was able to see one of my cartoons and then took a shower all before 8:00. After taking the shower, I went back into the room and watched another show. And let me tell you, Camp Lazlo is hilarious!

The days started off with me going to class and that was partially alright. We watched a silly 7 minute movie on Snake Handling as part of people Christian beliefs. It was kind of interesting that the thought of God working through a snake could deliver massive healing. I am convinced that God works on Earth. I went to the library afterwards and spent a lenghty amount of time trying to read "The Education of Little Tree". I have to read it by Wednesday. So after reading during Life Science and coming back to the library two hours later I finished the book. It had a sad ending since nearly everbody that the author had known had died relatively close at the same time. It was kind of horrible. The book was so interesting though.

I did go to Hall Council Meeting as well, it was really short. I do have one qualm however about it. It seems that I and the historian are really the only two people who are doing most of the paperwork and stuff. It seems that we are the only ones that are really on top of things. But I guess that is a downfall or consequence of what we signed up for, probably not....Maybe things will change, hopefully because I am starting to lose my enthusiasm with the Hall Council...

What Has Been Going On

As we all continue to go on throughout the days and the years we all realize that there are so many new things in life to see, do, and hear. Although these things can be festive they can be quite saddening and sickening as well. I wont go into all of the sad details but various events, remarks, and even people's responses can carry a whole lot of weight. Of course this should be expected since people arent perfect, but you know the deal with me, because things arent perfect, because things arent going to improve that greatly, and because the world is sprialing into a state of complete destruction (One day I am going to do research and discover everything in the world that affects is state), then we might as well bring it out...some other time :)

What I have done this week is simple, I went through another VCP (vital college process), I think that is what I called it so long ago. I went through the registration process. Here at VCU, it is handled one of two ways. First, students have the chance to do it online (most students take advantage of this for it is faster and more efficient than standing in a line), or they can do it in person (which many early registrants do, as I will explain later). The process begins thusly: Students spend several days before the appointed time to register for class searching online for the classes that they would like to take. They dont only select one class but up to 12-18 credits for full time enrollment, any less is not full time enrollment it is what they call part time or special student status (working adult/elderly person/ high school dual enroller) and any more is overload (triple majoring aspirious people, or those whom have failed too many classes yet still want to graduate on time, or child prodigy). Classes range from 0.5 credits to 4 credits, I believe. Students have the chance to talk to their major advisor about what classes that they want to take but they arent forced to (actually freshman are forced to do it, while everyone else could be totally independent using a guide for getting their major). After searching the huge schedule of classes and having their selections, students are ready to register, and this is where it gets interesting. Registration for the fall semester begins with the Honor Students first, next is the (early registrants), graduate students, seniors, juniors, sophomores, and freshman (freshman are virtually like the week before Thanksgiving). The reason it gets interesting is because of this. 1 Week and 2 days later (we have concluded honors students and graduate students with a few early registration students registered) classes are already filled (or so we are lead to believe but professors seem to have placed "seating" limits in their class in which only a few people can get in at first and then each week they will allow like ten more to enroll until it is at a numbe they like, but anyone can override this decision by going to the professor specifically). If the student is not that fortunate to be able to do that then they have to go through the entire schedule of classes again and reselect class. It was a horrible day in the library as some of these students went through more ten classes and each were already filled, I could only imagine all of the freshman going through it on their day! One more thing about this VCP is the fact that you can have a hold placed on registering thus delaying it if you didnt pay your bill, didnt pass a certain class, or even didnt even talk to your advisor! I registered on Monday and got into all of my classes (obviously because I am purposely taking those classes that onle a few people would actually enjoy taking i.e. Cell Biology or Intro to Human Geography).

The week proceeded smoothly. I continued my countdown until the games that I want are relased. I was able to take another Philosophy/Ethics test which I hope to at least get an A on, please! I began writing a paper for Intro to Life Science (I got a horrid 92, but that is better than failing!) and for Ethics. Both are five pages and the Life Science one I nearly finished in one hour. I will most likely finish it this upcoming week. Other than that nothing spectacular happened (although the friends at Alethiea, did cook some of the best sphaghetti that I could have ever imagined, second only to my Step moms cooking!).

I will continue to traverse life happily and will always be gladdened to see another one of the creations of God on the Earth. Every being makes me smile and every attempt to protect something and look at things in a new light is inspirational.

More Oodles of My Life

Today was a really great and wonderful day. It was topped off with the visit to Sixth Baptist Church (that isn’t its full name but it is close, it was a historic church). I thought it looked kind of familiar to one of the churches in Portsmouth. Especially inside, it reminded of oh I can’t remember its name, but it has a balcony, lengthy sanctuary, and choir stand behind the pulpit. The service and the atmosphere reminded me of Fourth Baptist Church in a bit.

Service was kind of interesting and spirited. I felt so good to be in a place where God could breathe upon us and grace us with his love, power, and sheer awe. Not only that but we got to hear how his fierce talons of justice can over power the people who are only concerned with frivolous characterizing and patronizing of others. Not only that but the floodgates of heaven were opened and poured out many blessings upon those who were there. I learned a whole lot today, and I really hope to go back again.

The past days have gone by fine. Nothing important has happened. I have new plans for next week such as registering for classes, finding people to talk to, and taking another test in Ethics class.

Three Days of Inspiration

I am starting to become a slacker with these retellings of my life, but never fear, I will catch you all up adequately, list style.

Monday

Monday went as it always has. Simply put it was class to rest to class, without any intermediary event in between.

Hall Council Meeting: Hall Council meeting took place at about 10:00 that night. It was here that we made final preparations for the Halloween Party. Although I was able to portray that I liked the idea, secretly I dislike it! Because of my beliefs, I dislike the idea of dressing up on only one night of the year for a party to celebrate who knows what. But anyway, that is what we did. From the preparations and suggestions of the members, it seems like it will be a great event if plenty of people show up.

Water: sometime during the day, there was a water pipe break and the water was contaminated with foreign particles. For several hours in the evening water use was not suggested. Many people rushed to the showers in the morning.

Tuesday

Office of Student Health Promotion: On this day, I woke up immediately and rushed over to the Office of Student Health Promotion which is located in some far away place from the main campus. Literally it should be considered off campus because of its distance from everything else. Alas, we have to go there for various reasons and it was a chilly and blustery walk. I went there to meet with one of the best people whom I have ever had a conversation with. He is so learned in the bible and provide me with the most insightful and inspiration advice ever. I just love going to talk to him about my pressing issues.

Lunch: Now after that event I was able to meet with another inspirational and very learned person who was able to relate to me with my pressing concerns. It was a great day and I learned so much and got such a new thought and outlook for life, that I feel rejuvenated to live even more for God.
Class: Today I discovered that I managed to get a crummy B. Nonetheless I am glad to have gotten such a high grade on the Biology test on Photosynthesis, I think this was my lowest scoring chapter in high school also. Class was very interesting; we were able to learn more about Early Earth and its creation. I favor the religious view that the Earth was created in only a mere 6 days! We also learned about the creation and rise of life from protobionts to full blown multicellular organisms! Precalculus involved a test and it was extremely simple! I could have possibly done it with a calculator, eyes closed, and my hands tied behind my back in only ten minutes. It was just that simple!

Wednesday

Today was really pretty dull. Nothing that spectacular or amazing happened. However, it was yet another opportunity to recognize how much we love Gods creations and how much that they must be protected. It was only more confirmation in philosophy that all life must be protected no matter what organism it is, fetus, potential human, embryo, et cetera.

Morning: Religion class went by extremely fast. Afterwards, I went to the library to see about my Wal-Mart order and called them to inquire why it was sitting in processing for over three days. That turned out to go fairly. Afterwards did a bit of boring stuff and listening to music in my room, then I went back out to the library computer lab for awhile. This lasted me until Life Science class.

Evening: For the evening, I had a fairly good time. Apart from experience dreadful problems with digestion and stuff of that sort, it quickly went away with the onset of class and prayer. After class, I discovered that putting the order in Gods hands really worked, as the order has finally shipped!

Vacation: Temporary Relief From Scholarly Work May Hold The Secrets To Fill Ones Life With New Life Energy

Fall Break 2006 (or more realistically Fall two days off) was a great time to catch my breath and realize that school wasn’t everything. Sadly, though this feeling didn’t last for long, as Monday soon approached at a very accelerated pace.

Thursday started off with me going to the Commons to spend the morning reading the book, “A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End” by Lemony Snicket. I managed to read it at a very accelerated pace and with a few hours, I had half the book finished. After that event transpired, I proceeded to go to my favorite bible study group. WE spoke of temptation and managed to listen to several members perform great musical pieces, I of course didn’t know the songs. The background singers really had a great voice and consistently made me smile as their talent was profound! That night, I went to the library and stayed there while watching several episodes of Yugioh GX. I managed to finally finish the first season.

Friday opened up with me going on a tour for the welcome center. It was a very profound and exciting event, as I was able to go along with a friend and take quite a large group on a tour of the campus. We traveled for nearly an hour and explored the darkest and dreariest places on campus. After that tour, I believe that I went get my hair cut for my parents arrival. I hadn’t had it cut in weeks so it was tragically annoying to me! But after that event, I raced to the commons to scoop a drink and then I went to the library for several hours. I watched some more episodes of Yugioh GX and then went back to the dorm to patiently wait for the arrival of my family.

When I got home that evening, I was excited. It was as if being in their presence illuminated my day and provided me with life replenishing water. My entire negative thoughts of life were soon put on the backburner as I discovered truly what it was like to really enjoy life and have people to enjoy life with!

The next day was spent going to my Grandma’s House to visit my relatives. It was another exciting event as I was able to see several cousins, aunts, uncles, and even grandma! I even had the chance to finally eat some of Grandma’s cooking, and it was terrific!

Sunday was spent at church of course and it was another life refreshing event. I couldn’t believe that it was one of the best Sunday’s of the year, ever, Family and Friends Day! So here is what happened, through a combinative effect of seeing several peers whom I hadn’t seen in a while, the inspiration music that I have grown to love and missed, and the speaking of life from the preacher himself, I was able to really see that life is good indeed. He even spoke about my current troubles and I realized that I am wrong every time I declare that life is pointless. It is a sign that we have no trust and faith in God and that is not good, no not good at all.

That evening, I made my way back to Richmond with my parents. We stopped at one of the best restaurants ever, Cheddars!

I know I have managed to skip very important sensory details, but this was a very tiring weekend, and I am now feeling the full effects of it. I don’t think it is sleep but rather the ominous feeling that one is tired of life. I am not really tired of it, but here at VCU I truly feel as if has abandoned me. Somewhere in my soul is this nagging and ugly instinct that I keep resorting to whenever I am alone and am thinking, it is like saying “Tristan, why do you wake up each day, why do you not do something to eliminate your minor presence on Earth, you have nothing to live for, no viable and lasting goals to fulfill, nothing to look forward to, in fact the only thing you have is that you are going to heaven once you die, so why not hasten your time in getting there!” It is this, this spirit that is inhibiting my happiness, so now I have to figure out someway to banish it and eliminate it from myself; in fact, I fear it is too late for it has been there for nearly six years now. I want some help!

Catch Up: The Continuing and Unraveling Tale of The Amazing Events That Happen In My Life!

During my times of tribulation, I seem to have failed to mention the daily occurrences that have happened. In fact these occurrences have actually been times of great joy and excitement. Because of this, I can’t remember them all but I will sum it up for you. Between going to many activities during the week (Student Admissions Ambassador Tours, Studying for classes, and even meetings) life is till moving on in a very fast pace.

The meetings for this week were of course:

Cancer Awareness Team: Acknowledgement of Making Strides against Breast Cancer walk, new prospects of more activities, ski trip in the future, and more fun activities to foster peer to peer interaction amongst members.

Honor Council Hearing: Confidential and can’t be discussed. One hint of advice: Always follow the teacher’s syllabus!

Hall Meeting: Confusion and imbroglio will always plague meetings of this proportion. However, with a secretary that is as dull as a bowl of fruit and it as emotionless as a banana ripening on a tree, progress can be made. New prospects of a Halloween gathering and other minor events were made.

Floor Event: Watch the gross Saving Private Ryan. Very gory and bloody, sickening to the stomach. Call of Duty on Xbox 360 afterwards, I managed to get last places and third place a few times.

Alethiea: Temptation Discussion

Other events: There was a minor event on Tuesday night in which members of the floor player Super Smash Brothers on the Game cube. Other than that, I was able to get The End by Lemony Snicket to finish the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Why Do I Go Through Tragic Emotional RollerCoasters?

The past two days have been a constant struggle for me. It all started during a walk for cancer and I saw all the people who had survived cancer. It made me think of my mother and how unfortunate it was to lose her in my life. If that horrible disease had only went away we would have been with the survivors group. Sadly we weren’t. I tried to stay calm during the event and managed to do a good job of not breaking down, but now the full effect is taking over and I truly wish to never leave my room again.

Not only that but for some reason I have now also begun to have these constant bouts of extreme sadness, dissidence from others, and even thoughts of no purpose in life. For some reason I can’t explain it, but they completely stun me at times that anything that I try to do that is enjoyable just seems boring and pointless. I felt so bad today during a Hall Council meeting when I was really not even at the meeting. I feel so bad because I feel like I hurt someone’s feelings. Then to top the cake, when I received a phone call, I was completely not there as well. I almost wasn’t even listening until they asked if I had wanted to talk to someone in the health office. So I got out of the bout and instantly acknowledged that I could truly tell someone everything that I was going through. Maybe they would have some answer for my life and restore my life and joy.

Apart from that, I believe that I am starting to move my perfectionist’s beliefs to the forefront of my life. I have gotten so worked up over the past few days because I got a 90 on a test! It was so depressing and disenchanting to receive such a dreadful grade! But I should have been happy to get an A but I am not. I guess I feel that I should get a 100 on everything and if I don’t then I just wasted my time!!!

One of the more positive things that have happened is that I am truly beginning to put my religious beliefs into action. Several issues are big and controversial and I am going to remain firm in my literal interpretation of the bible and declare that certain circumstances shouldn’t be the way they are. Even if people ridicule, mock, and even try to impose their view, I will not progress and take back my belief. It would be pointless.

On another note, nothing that spectacular happened over the weekend and on today!

My Belifs (v 1.01)

My latest journey in the world of Virginia Commonwealth University has led me to search the internet to clarify my religious beliefs. I chose to do this because there are so many things that could unfortunately alter and change my beliefs forever, if I stay too opened minded and try to accept everything as truth. So by staying true to my roots and extremely close to the religious text, I will base my entire life off of it.

From what I have gathered by pouring through tons of definitions and lists of beliefs for denominations, I discovered which I am. I have found out that I am really a Fundamental Christian (fundamentalist beliefs, very conservative in government). So in line with that reasoning which have always been my beliefs. I believe in the following concepts wholeheartedly.

1. Inerrancy of Scripture: Every single verse of the bible was written and inspired by God. [2 Timothy 3:16 all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right]. Now following this, I believe that every single solitary thing in the bible is true and means exactly what it says.

2. The virgin birth and the deity of Jesus: I believe that Jesus was in fact the Son of God the Father, and came to the Earth to die for everyone’s sins. God put his seed within Mary and she in turn gave birth to Jesus without any intercourse.

3. The doctrine of substitutionary atonement through God’s grace and human faith: I believe that Jesus came to the Earth to die for the sins of everyone so that evil could in turn vanish from the world. Through accepting him into out hearts he has already taken the full brunt of our sins and washed them away. [Isaiah 53:5 “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed]

4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus: Jesus in fact rose after having laid down for three days. On the third day morning he rose and got up from the grave and then taught on Earth for 40 more days before rising to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God today. His resurrection defeated death and enabled us today to be able to have our chance to go to heaven. [Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20-21]

5. The authenticity of Christ’s miracles and his premillennial second coming: Jesus was able to fulfill every single one of the prophesies that the Old Testament prophets declared. He also rose from the dead. And thus because of this, it is true then that he performed every single miracle (since all of them were prophesized to transpire). Not only that but I believe that Revelation 20-21, speaks of Jesus coming after a sort of Rapture (in which the believers will go to heaven before a seven year period of world destruction, and a million year reign of Jesus on Earth).

Other beliefs of fundamental Christians that I believe (and I believe in all of them) are as follows:

1. Young Earth Creationism: Earth created by the hand of God 6000 years ago.

2. Universal Flood Geology: The Great Flood of the bible is the origin of most of the Earth’s geological features, including sedimentary strata, fossilization, fossil fuels, submarine canyons, salt domes, and frozen mammoths.

3. Advocate Prayer in Public School and Christian messages in public forums (displays of the Ten Commandments).

4. Pro-life: Oppose abortion, human cloning, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem-cell research.

5. No Same-Sex Marriage, strict sodomy laws

6. Belief that a one world government and religion will emerge with the rise of the Antichrist

7. Strict Codes of conduct that prohibit the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, dancing, and gambling.

So now that I have firmly stated my beliefs, I will respond swiftly and attempt to continue to live my life in the fashion that was described. Truly it is what the Bible does say.

People Grow More Impolite!

Today was a day that started out with new hopes. I woke up immediately at 7 and prepared to begin my day of great tidings. I quickly got prepared for the day by ironing my clothes to look spiffy for a tour at the Welcome Center. Although it did not take place, I still looked nice in a button up! But that is a different tale that I won’t share to you. Most importantly is that I left there and immediately went to the store. Strangely, I entered in there with no purpose in my mind. When I reached the children’s books section (I actually picked up one new adult book called the Thirteenth Tale but thought against buying it), I saw the book that I had been looking for, Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony, the newest book in my favorite book series. So I picked this single copy up and went to buy it. I then left there and continued with my normal day. I like summing it up verse prose!

Afternoon

1.Go to commons and volunteer for Cancer Awareness Team. Tell people that a sticker will save a life, prevent the collapse of civilization, and aid in the discovery of diseases. Ran through two rolls of hundreds of stickers.

2. Went to Life Science class and wanted to reprimand three students who were as I quote “too grown to be quiet during a lecture.” They did not realize that I am sitting in the front of the room and they are nearly in the back and I could hear their entire conversation up front. The professor today sat back there with them because several students complained. I thought people acted more polite as they got older but I guess not.

3. Went to Shafer to join the Tabling part of Sierra Club.

4. Went to Philosophy Class, had a good laugh and I think I finally have my beliefs in Abortion set. I am thinking I believe that the fetus has all the rights as a fully developed person because if a fetus doesn’t then it is not a person, and it is strange to think that people carry “not persons” in them.

Had to Catch You All Up

Because of various events and activities, I have spent the past four days trying to catch my breath. To sum up that which has happened, I will spare you the long wind and just give it to you in a raw format.

Saturday
1. Went to Student Admissions Ambassadors Training extremely late (it started at 12, I woke up at 12).
2. Training proceeded while I was not there, however I caught up (I just missed an interactive icebreaker, notice the redundancy, get it icebreakers are always interactive, I know it was that funny).
3. Training included going out on a tour in torrential rain and wind. Umbrellas flew away and hit me on the head. I struggled to listen while on the tour, I thought I would freeze to death or get blown by the wind.
4. Training ended at 4. I proceeded to Student Commons for Cinema duty again. Cinemas jam packed during second movie later that night (think 156 people from 11 until 12:50).

Sunday
1. Woke up early for no apparent reason
2. Read Bible and ignored doing any studying or basically anything productive, thought provoking, life changing, or phenomenal.
3. Watched 48 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh GX that I had missed over the past two years. Caught up to the end of season 1, did not finish because parents called later that night.
4. Talked on phone for a while, got cell phone usage limited to 100 minutes, anything over 100 minutes means I have to pay for it.

Monday (My weak of chaos began) Note to self: Never suggest to anyone to join more than three organizations!!!
1. Woke up at 8, performed morning ritual and arrived at Religion class early. Managed to figure out a cunning way to receive missed notes from Friday. By elegantly and cunningly suggesting to someone who also sent email for notes, I asked them for them as well. However, I had to surrender two days of my notes, a fair trade off, I felt morally obligated to do it.
2. Went to Student Commons for Student Alumni Ambassadors to aid Alumni Association in reaching out to new graduates during Grad Finale. From 11-1 I spoke life changing words and accolades about the VCU Alumni Association which I knew nothing about.
3. Immediately there after went to eat lunch with the $10 meal voucher they gave (note to self, next time use all of it, I only used $7 on Teriyaki, chunky rice, and chips/drink).
4. Began reading A Lesson Before Dying
5. Went to Life Science Class, scored another 100 and was captivated by the way that a Director of a group spoke to us and began by singing a song from Phantom of the Opera
6. Went back to the dorm to finish reading “A Lesson Before Dying”, must finish by Friday, dedicated several hours to it, forced myself to get into it, now I cant put it down…
7. Went to Johnson Hall Council Meeting as Secretary, took notes on the event that was planned. Wondered why it seemed like it is only being ruled by one administrator, a president and vice president, and wondered how in the world the president and vice president could make decisions without consulting other members of the board. Put those thoughts aside and just did my job, created a spectacular and interesting set of minutes for them and left.
8. Went to bed

Tuesday
1. Woke up late for an event, discovered that someone had removed clothes from dryer and set them on top. Wondered if the one who did knows that they are not morally obligated to move it!
2. Went to the Commons for Cancer Awareness Team (note to self, register for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk by Saturday).
3. After two hours (I need to finish reading my book and study for religion and biology for upcoming tests, need to finish math homework), I went upstairs and volunteered for the Alumni Association again. This time I visited several tables and discovered new information, freshman have been staying in hotels for several years now, caps and gowns for PhD’s are in the 500 hundreds, I will be in graduate school during my fourth year, my ring can be sent in for a free cleaning.
4. I left at 3 because I was late for lunch. I did not go to lunch but rather to a computer. I then went to Biology and got some extra credit. Decided then that I wanted to go to a test prep session on Thursday. Got extra credit points.
5. Went back to the dorm to get calculator, went to dinner, went to commons to get on computer for only 15 minutes, sat for an hour and read nearly 100 more pages of the book.
6. Went to class and got another 100 on a quiz. Wished for class to end quickly.
7. Trip to 7-11, line was backed up badly, I didn’t buy anything.
8. Went to library for several hours, caught up on math homework and finished some in advance.
9. Discovered that I got a B on my Philosophy test, nearly went into depression and now want to drop out cause I did so badly on it. I am such a dunce for getting that grade!

And that my friends was the past several days!