Sunday, April 15, 2007
Strange Night
So for a while one of the guys was throwing up and then going in and out of a daze. I believe he fell asleep for a bit. We meanwhile focused out efforts on the friend who was more respondent and cognitive of what was actually happening. We helped him get up from the floor and guided him to his room and set him in a chair. We gave him a trashcan and what not. He was alright for he fell asleep a bit afterwards on the bed. This morning he remembers a large part of what happened.
So now for the other friend who was on the floor. We left him there for about 30 minutes, and then we began efforts to move him to his room. Two other people came back soon thereafter from a party that I had been invited too. They were both fairly conscious and one was a bit on the keen edge cause he started to yell at us for leaving him on the floor, there was a bit of a disagreement there but it all worked well cause they waited until he became a bit more conscious. Unfortunately the friend wasnt able to stand, so two of the other people began efforts to make him stand and guide, or perhaps carry him to the room. It took a while but we made it. I cleared all his art stuff out of his room and they plopped him on the bed. I believe they even put him under the covers or something.
Next we began efforts to clean the restroom because of the fact, we would all get in trouble for having the bathroom with stuff on the floor, and not only that both people have the smell of alcohol on them so that would further bring trouble since drinking isnt allowed in the building. So we teamed up and cleaned. Of course more people came back who were under the influence, they fell out on the floors of their friends rooms as soon as they made it back to the building.
So all in all it was quite a strange night, for it kept me up until 3:30 in the morning several hours pass my Midnight bedtime! But it was all good, I just hope they dont think of going out to drink anymore anytime soon, for it is a real inconvenience's for everyone, for we couldn't even use the restroom for hours.
Monday, April 09, 2007
April Updates
I am actually going to be in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Scholars Program. the programs is an excellent program that promises to teach the selected students who range from freshmen to seniors wonderful things about research. Depending on their experience, they can gain anywhere from a basic understanding and first hand view of how real research is carried out to the point in which they are really working on the project as if it were their own. The program awards the students in it a $3000 stipend, opportunities to attend several seminars, attendance at a conference, and lastly the ability to stay on campus without paying anything at all. The program is held at Virginia Commonwealth University and the students get to work with VCU professors as being the people who they are mentoring under. Furthermore, research projects range from environmental science to hardcore in depth molecular oncology.
So as you all are now informed, I will be in this program for my summer. So I get at most two weeks home from the year for a summer break and then I come back here for the majority of the middle of summer, and then I go back home for about two more weeks before reporting back to VCU. Quite an interesting plan for the summer break.
In other news, classes are continuing to go full steam ahead. I have to continue to work on several of them to bring my borderline grades back up to the A level. I hope to that within the next few weeks as classes now come to a close. And finally, Cell Biology is becoming more and more of a worthy challenge. It is quite easy once the material is memorized but understanding it is a bit hard. I have so far managed to get an 85 on both tests in it and that is with studying for about 24 hours for each test. One more test to go.
Weekend
- Went to Aletheia Harrisonburg, it was a great and rockin service for Easter (Resurrection Sunday)
- Got about an inch of snow on Friday night in Richmond, major snow of the year
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Holla!
Anyway and moving on. Yesterday was so exciting for I got to spend a majority of the day with Phylicia a good best friend. We had so much fun going to Churchland High School and then to the Red Lobster for lunch. It was quite entertaining and I didnt quite expect to eat all this food.
I had ordered French Fries, Grilled Steak, Garlic Shrimp Scampi, and Grilled Salmon while she ordered Grilled Chicken and Rice Pilaf. We got the Ceasar Salad and the famous Biscuits. For drinks I had Raspeberry Limonade and she had a Strawberry Smoothie. The meal was quite great and we had some interesting conversation. Hopefully the next time I come home for Spring Break we can meet up again.That night I spent it watching American Idol (as I did tonight as well). I managed to help a friend with his Chemistry homework as well. Chemistry is really starting to bite me in the back as it requires so much time and dedication. But I guess, as everyone says, that it will pay off in the end. I just have to continue to progress versus always giving up and settling for less (my previous homeworks assignments have been close to 60-80% versus last times 98%). I need to get 100% like a large majority of the class versus giving up and calling it quits when I dont get it. More of the Chemistry homework opened up on tonight so I will probably try to start the parts that I know how to do on tomorrow. Tomorrow I also have to start reading the chapters for the Cell Biology quiz that comes up next week. I had to print out 25 pages for a chapter today because we are getting notes from another textbook while at the same time reading a part of the chapter for another part (confusing I know). But this is Cell Biology and I do find all this studying for it, enjoyable and relaxing.
One more on the assignments business side is that I also managed to finally go through and read all four chapters that we have covered and are going to cover in the next week. It took some time but I did it and I even wrote the vocabulary words down so that I do know what he is talking about when I go into that Introduction to Geography class. There is one more assignment that I may or may not do and that is the Chemistry lab one. The thing that is annoying about that class is that the assignments never at first make sense. The math is usually so involving yet simple that at first glance you think that you misunderstood until you put your pen to the paper and really look over it. Of course I have to look over it again and again and this will be on Sunday night and then I will get all tired and annoyed. Luckily there is Monday night that comes before Tuesday so then I have that night to do it as well.
Currently I have little to no plans for the rest of the week as of yet. Just more studying and to read the chapters since I put them off so much. Tomorrow I am going to probably ship the broken Nintendo DS Lite off to Nintendo so then that can get fixed for no charge. Lord willing, I should have it back in less than two weeks and then I will be able to enjoy my Meteos puzzle game and Diddy Kong Racing game again.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Home At Last
All in all I managed to get several things done while I was there, including packing my stuff. I did do a bit more than that such as completing the test. When I got home I did managed to force myself to do some of the Chemistry Lon-Capa assignment which was and seemed like a piece of cake with a small tutorial video incorporated into it.
This morning started off with me at church. It was quite enjoyable and I really was excited to see all of the members of the church once again. It was a great experience.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Time Goes On
Well tomorrow I am going to go to the first of my Honors Seminars, let just hope that I get credit for it or am at least able to even remember to go to it. After that is a meeting to be one of the Student Orientation people over the summer. I might decided to do that as well, however I dont know how I am going to be able to do it since I live quite some distance away. Hm, now that I think about it, I really cant because I wouldnt have anywhere to stay. Maybe I will consider it the year after. I think that I am going to do that, plus it gives me back a few hours in the evening, no doubt for more work and studying or even to relax. I could even wash clothes. This is good planning to seize the next day already. I am too excited for this.
Well I guess I will go now and think of something I am starting to get tired already.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Life Goes On
But anyway though we live in this cycle new things seem to pop up that always diverts our attention away from these things. I guess because we go through this endless cycle anything that disrupts it seems to be interesting and attention grabbing. We will go ahead and do it and risk the consequence of having to do what was planned at a later date or even not at all. Anything, and I mean anything, that diverts our attention.
I have sadly fallen victim to this cycle and am currently struggling to regain my place in it. Really though, I just have one assignment to do but I keep delaying it until the deadline on the 11th, which I need to go ahead and take care of. Other than that my other work gets done at a steady pace.
My goal for this semester is simple, I just want to get an A in all of my science classes. That looks fairly positive as long as I can raise my Chemistry grade to above C status on the next few tests, manage to maintain my High B in Cell Biology as well as figure out someway to get through Chemistry Lab. Luckily we have one test this week so we get to see how they play out in there. My Calculus class is coming along well. I have managed to get an A in there and am working towards keeping it so long as I continue to do the homework at a reasonable pace.
In other grounds, I am steadily limiting my participation in student activities to only a few. I need all the time I can get at night. I am really only going to keep the ones in which I have nice friendly relationships with the people (ideally Student Ambassadors, Alumni Ambassadors, APB Cinemas, and Aletheia). One of my favorites this semester has been Aletheia. It is really interesting in there for we get to share the Word of God to others and we get to hang out on weekends and at their house for nice food and fellowship. I love being around them.
Well that is all that has been happening. Later days and I hope to write more often.
Monday, February 12, 2007
The New Week
Chemistry I worked on a lot today. I worked on it since I came back to the dorm and until about 10 at night. The LonCapa problems (online homework) is so annoying. At times it seems to not even have anything to do with what we are doing in class (answers and helpwise). This section I got two questions wrong, as I didnt understand what they were asking for while I got the other main problems right. Someday I hope to get a one hundred on an assignment.
Life continues to move along at a formidable pace. Everything still goes by as if there is an endless cycle of things to look for. Of course there are many things to acquire, but I am trying to figure out does this education in school really matter. Why cant we have a system in which doing this stuff was more interesting that that which we are doing now? There is always this issue resounding in our minds.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Recent Happenings: Class Review
In my other classes we have done some phenomenal things. Today was the first time that I got up in front of the lecture class to work out a problem. Sadly to say I confused myself and didnt even manage to get past the first step because of the confusing way that people did their work. But nonetheless, it did pass the time and when the teacher worked it out I understood everything completely. So it was a win-win event. One of the major things that has happened in the class recently is that there have been several rising of talking and email sending about it. It was so bad at one point that the instructor had to get the teaching assistants to stand up and monitor the class at one point. We [the class] managed to calm down on that day and she hasnt had to do it again. When the student sent the email out, I responded back to it, urging her to tell the instructor, and I guess that she did.
For general reporting purposes we have done two labs in Chemistry lab. We have done the Acid Rain lab in which we produce Sulfuric, Nitric, and Sulfuric Acid and immerse those (along with Hydrochloric Acid) in water to produce Acid Rain. This week we have also done an experiment in which we have to discover the limiting reagent in the experiment with some green substance and other substance that makes it turn from green to purple. It is quite amazing really, I wish I had my camera in class. I need to start bringing it no doubt.
Outside of the class front, I continue to pursue exploring various campus groups. I have taken a sort of backseat role in some while increasing my participation in others. For example, I am now nearly at all of the Aletheia events with these awesome people who are all about loving people and bringing about God's Holy Word. They are quite nice and seem to be living like the bible says. As I have said I have been inspired many times by them. Well it is getting quite late and I have more homework to do, so until next time.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Snow Day
The past days have been spent emerged in homework and the reading of dull textbooks. They have some interesting spots but mostly, no doubt, they are dull. One of the highlights was doing a lab experiment today in which we were able to make the gases that are in acid rain. We even made acid water as well for Chemistry Lab.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Back on Track
Apart from taking and focusing on my classes diligently, I have also began to spend a bit more time on the bible and looking and studying it. There are strange stories in there that always have messages that pertain to the world at hand. Not only that but many of its claims are true and it seems to provide us with the only hope for a neat future and a fulfilling life. I wont get into details though.
I will make every effort to come back and post just dont think that it will be as often as it was last semester. I am out of class in the afternoon, which for me, is the laziest time of the day, as I will just sit in the room and stare at a screen constantly or lay down. The evening is when I am most productive, but strangely I havent been able to focus that much as there seems to be no point in studying if the test is in 20 days. But yeah, I am out.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
The Year in Review
I do not know how long this will turn out to be so I will definitely partition it into several parts. 2006 was quite the year for nearly me and everyone else I know. Perhaps the two most important events in our lives was graduating from high school and then the matriculation into college. These were two of the greatest events of the year. However, notwithstanding or overlooking the other things, there were other major things to have happened to me this year. Perhaps it was more of a transformation into an even better person or perhaps the realization that the small things in life really matter, versus trying to attempt to begin a changing of the world. No matter what it was though, I cant pinpoint it right now, truly great and marvelous things did happen. I will probably go into much detail perhaps but that doesn’t matter, it is good to be able to remember some of the good things that have happened to us and me in particular.
Winter 05-Winter 06
While in high school during this time we experienced many things. Perhaps the most important to me was the opportunity to finally finish sending out all of the applications to my colleges. Applications were sent to
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Customers and Wendys
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.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Christmas
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 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.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Back to Fourth Baptist
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.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Exam Troubles
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.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Weekend And Exam 1
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.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Time Well Spent
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.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Saturday and Sunday Fun
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.
