Prolific Predestination and Elasticity

Arg! I just finished writing a 1 1/2 (real) page single-spaced email on predestination. It wasn't my fault! The guy specifically wanted a response to his questions about my earlier statement. Honest! It's for my Tolkien class. See, the professor set up a listserv so that we can discuss the issues we're talking about out of class. And all these people are raising questions, and I have so much to say, and you know I can never keep my mouth shut. . . (It was so hard to write, too, because I couldn't use italics at all. Really, I was quite handicapped.) Groan. . . I am hopeless.

Actually, the real thing this blog update is about is my Econ lab this morning. We played a "game" called "Elasticity Stretch," and we randomly split up into four teams. When I say "game," I mean "write down answers to questions about elasticity supply of demand." Oh, so fun!(voice drips with sarcasm) Still, the winning team got extra credit, so at least we were competing for something. The environment was hardly conducive to quick thinking: this is 9am on a friday morning in a warm room filled with yellow sunlight. Duh! Our first major challenge came when we were told to pick a name. The three other people in my group and I look at each with completely blank stares. "Come on," our TA told all of us, "Think of a fun name that has to do with Economics." That got a few raised eyebrows, at least. We muttered some halfhearted phrases to each other ("we could always go with 'demand'"), and then he asked the first group what their name was. "Supply" they said. He his expression clearly said you-can-do-better-than-that, and he said,"the next group had better not say "demand." Oops. There goes our one idea. We stare desperately at each other, and the other girl in my group says "Come back to us." The next group picked "George" (the name of our TA) and the other group picked "We supply the answers." Drat! It's back to us, and now we are starting to plan escape routes from the building. Without missing a beat, the TA writes our group name on the board "Come back to us." LOL. Whenever we had to write our name down we cracked up. At least I did. Oh, and all the groups tied and got the extra credit. But we had the coolest name.

Somebody Get Ready To Do CPR. . .

I'm too tired of typing right now to write much, so I'll just give an update of my science lab yesterday. I thought of doing a serious reflection of my life right now, then I figured that I couldn't make this blog serious if I tried. If you want a series book review, though, go to www.writersread.blogspot.com (shameless self-promotion). It's a cool blog Mr. Eubanks started, and I'm one of the (many) contributors. But back to my story:
So I finished my first science lab report (barely) in time to start my next one. We were measuring magnetic fields in appliances, and since we had to do it somewhere other than the lab, I volunteered my room. Thankfully I knew about this ahead of time, otherwise I cringe to think what might have appeared when we were moving the refrigerator and microwave. One of the teachers (i.e. our TA) was going to come by and check to make sure we were doing okay. So imagine my surprise when our professor walks into my room! Now, this is the same professor who I found myself arguing about evolution with on the first day (will I never learn?). The same professor of who, I convinced myself, has absolutely nothing in common with myself. The professor who scares me; the professor who makes me believe that our brains operate in completely different universes. So, she sits down on my rug (and I utter another prayer of thankfulness that I had time to vacuum), and asks us about our experiment. Then looking at the poster on the wall right by the door, says "So who here likes Firefly?" If my jaw did not drop open literally, then it certainly did mentally. I tried to gather the facts in my head (1. It's a poster for "Serenity", which means that she actually knows that "Serenity" and "Firefly" are connected. 2. Wait: she knows what Firefly is?) and I managed to come up the completely inane comment "You know Firefly?" "Yes," she replies. "I love that show."
I can just see God chuckling up in heaven as he teaches me that I have a lot in common with even the most different people. All my assumptions crumble away, and I admit that I am not so isolated from the rest of humanity as I sometimes think (well, who else do you know who memorizes 15 pages of poetry for fun?). That, and there's at least one other Firefly fan still out there. ;)

Apocalypse Now, Por Favor

Saturday, February 18th:
I begin to work on my lab report. I stare blankly at the many papers spread across my bed until my roommate takes pity on me and helps me decipher them. She also tries to help me understand the difference between velocity and acceleration. I wonder how such a simple physics experiment can go so wrong. I spend hours trying to learn how to use the charting software on my computer.

Sunday, February 19th:
There is no curse in elvish, entish, or the tongues of men for such a lab report.

Monday, February 20th:
I remember that we are supposed to find outside sources to put our experiment in context. I spend a half hour at the library and come up with nothing. I cordially dislike scientific journals. That is the understatement of the century.

The Future:
Maybe the world will end before this thing is due. I'll go see if the apocalypse in on my calendar for sometime today.

Of Marshmallows, Fantasy, and "Country" Music

Sigh. . .I've actually just spent like 4 straight hours reading a book for a journalism test tomorrow and doing my econ homework. I'm getting burned out (I'm never that productive!). Maybe it's cuz of that 2 and a half hour nap earlier. ;) And I still have more reading to do for that class (groan).
At the dining hall tonight we had a dessert that the signs labeled "marshmallow treats." And yes. . .they were rice krispy treats. That is just so weird! I understand that "Rice Krispy's" is a name of a brand, and chances are the cheapskates don't use the real stuff, but "Marshmallow treats" keeps making me expect little marshmallow snowmen with candy eyes or something. Maybe I have been studying too much.

Last night I remembered that I wanted to order the King of Attolia (by Megan Whalen Turner) and the last of the Wren books (by Sherwood Smith) from amazon, and I wanted them shipped to my dorm, so I decided to spend enough to get free supersaver shipping. Well, when I picked out another book I discovered that most of their fantasy/sci-fi books are get 4 for the price of 3! Of course, the two books I originally wanted are "kid's books" or something and so they don't count; I ended up ordering six fantasy books. :D (or is that a :P ?)

I found a new music group that I really like. They are called "The Spares" and itunes calls them country, but I don't usually like country at all and I like them, so I'm not sure that that is right. Anyhow, they led the worship at my church this past Sunday, and I bought their CD "Hand Me Down." It's really great! I've listened to it waaay to may times already.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy sigh. . .this morning Rollins (my dining hall) had a special valentine's breakfast. There were supposed to be heart-shaped pancakes (which there weren't), but I had a decadent breakfast of normal pancakes doused in a dark chocolate syrup and covered with semi-sweet morsels. Highlight: strawberries with tons of a warm chocolate glaze. I felt like Kaylee (if you don't get this, YOU NEED TO SEE FIREFLY). It's such a nice day here, all warm and sunny; so, of course, I have a two hour science lab this afternoon in a room without windows. Go figure.
Ha! The journalism school just sent out an e-mail encouraging us to go to a lecture on "the important topic of nanotechnology." On valentine's evening? They're got to be kidding. Even people like me who aren't dating have better things to do! (I'm hanging out with friends and watching Scrubs.) Hee hee, nothing like priorities.

Maybe I'll Be a Steerswoman Next Halloween. . .

Wow. I just finished the 3rd of 4 books in a series, and found out that there will be more that haven't been published yet. The author took a ten year break between 2 and 3, so that doesn't look particularly encouraging. Oh, the books are The Steerswoman's Road (two novels in one: The Steerswoman and The Outskirter's Secret), The Lost Steersman, and The Launguage of Power (which I haven't started yet). They are set in a medieval-like society, but one quickly discovers the the "magic" of the world is actually technology. Only the wizards know how to use this "magic," and they guard their secrets jealously. On the other end of the spectrum are the Steerswomen, explorers and chroniclers who give knowledge freely to any who ask. A steerswoman must reply truthfully to any question she is asked, and a person must give an answer to any question she asks. Believe it or not, these books actually tied into my science course (a very little) and made it more intriguing for me. Okay, I didn't mean give a lecture about these books, but oh well.

On Monday night, I went to "Waffle Night," which is a chance to hang out at our RUF leader's house. It was a "rip-roaring good time" (LOL). The party was made up of our campus minister and his family, our RUF interns, and about seven students.

[My posting was just interrupted by the sounding of the fire alarms. To paraphrase what Jayne from Firefly so eloquently stated, There's nothing more deceiving than a low down dirty (pause) deceiver. . .especially one that pulls fire alarms.Well, I might was well update the "Fire Alarm Stories" archive. Several people were out there in flip-flops; that would be so horrible! It's really freeezing out there. One person "saved" their guinea pig by bringing it out in its plastic ball. And one of the guys (whom I do not know) in the small huddle I was in mentioned that he pulled the fire alarm in his dorm early first semester. He even used a hanger to avoid any possible ink packs. We brought up that this crowd was probably not the best place to boast about this exploit, but he laughed it off and was not repentant. In hindsight, I think I should have slapped him, as some small revenge for all the people he inconvenienced. I really wish I would have. When our hall coordinator finally got our attention for announcements, she was greeted with a very loudly shouted F-word. This probably does not put us anymore in her good graces. It turns out it was a scheduled fire alarm, which in good because it means it wasn't a prank, and bad because it was really really cold out and very mean to do it at this time.]

Back to Waffle Night. Basically we ate waffles and had a good time; the funniest/craziest thing we did was go around the table telling scar stories. A very odd, but also strangely cool, tradition. I (personally) really like my scars, maybe because they look impressive and I was too young to remember the pain. I think, though, that it's because I've read too many books where the neat characters had interesting scars. And people seem very impressed when I tell my stories, and wince or gasp very nicely. Maybe that makes up for the fact that I faint when I have blood drawn. Anyhow, "Scar Wars" was really fun, and it was awesome because it was so different from all the other "What is your major?", etc.

Only 3 more episodes of Battlestar Galactica (first season) left. :(

Estoy Muy Triste

Yesterday my Spanish class found out that our teacher is leaving. She's got a new job, and can only keep one of her two classes. The university chose to have her keep her other one (go figure). The really depressing thing is I know someone in the other class, and she doesn't appreciate the teacher at all. Sigh. So today we had a new teacher. Homework, class format, etc. is all going to be different now. It's hard not to compare our new teacher to Grisel, and start out miffed. She seems nice enough, but it's different, and we all know how much I like change. :P

In other news, I bought a "Serenity" poster at a poster sale.