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| I might as well update seeing as it has been almost a month since my last one. With that said, a lot happened in the past 28 days. Of course, a lot usually happens to the average person over the course of 28 days, but what follows here are the chronicles of one person. E pluribus unum. And that unum is me.
Classes finally started on the 6th of February, and much to my dismay I am already inundated with work and commitments. For those that care to know what I am taking this semester, my classes are as follows: Chemical Kinetics and Reactor Design; Separation Processes; Writing in Tonal Forms II; Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; and The Renaissance. You might think that most of those classes sound boring. You would be right. Fortunately, with the completion of this semester, I will be nearly done with the requirements for both of my degrees. In fact, I could only take two classes each semester of senior year to graduate.
I got my first UROP (undergraduate research opportunity) since coming to MIT last week, mainly because I actually have time this semester to do something besides class and music. The project isn't that interesting, but apparently I could have some impact on the construction of new buildings on campus. Basically, I examine the efficacy of fume hoods in yet-to-be-built labs and propose improvements to old designs. We'll see how it goes.
On a more exciting note, I was recently elected the new president of MIT's chapter of Tau Beta Pi, which is a national engineering honor society. Two weeks ago we had initiation immediately followed by a rather impromptu election, from which I was chosen as president. I get to go to the national conference (unfortunately in Dearborn, MI, sorry Leanne), but more importantly I get to have a direct effect on the student population of MIT by providing career resources and social events. Hopefully this will be a highlight of my time at MIT.
Some of my friends and I are planning on going to Canada in a few weeks. I'm exciting considering that the last time I was out of the country was when I was born in Germany. That is sad considering that in Texas I live about 10 hours from Mexico and that for the past two years in Boston I've lived 5 hours from Canada. But no longer will I be restricted in this one country, despite the immense size and diversity of this country. North to the border and onward.
My Spring Break plans aren't yet finalized, but it looks like I will be coming home once again with a visit to Duke the final weekend. Hopefully everything works out.
It's Ash Wednesday. What should I give up for Lent?
And now I return to my other life, my life of hectic schedules and endless deadlines. God bless.
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| After a two month plus hiatus I have decided to return to xanga, even if in a diminished capacity. Last semester was so crazy towards the end, but things have turned around since then, thanks largely to winter break and a rather relaxed winter session during January.
I'm currently TAing a two week lab in bioengineering. Actually, I'm on a computer right now in lab while the students work on some data analysis. TAing can be boring, but at least I'm getting paid a good amount to work a little over 30 hours a week. I also participated in a film score recording project for a silent movie, for which I was paid a decent amount. On the side I've been playing (too much) Zelda on my Wii I got for Christmas, but I am probably two days away from beating the game. I need to beat the game before next semester begins in February so I don't become one of those guys who chooses video games over homework and ends up surviving on ramen and artificial light. That's pretty much all I've been doing since I returned to campus about two weeks ago.
What else is new? A guess a lot has happened since I stopped keeping up in November. I got the internship at Shell, which is awesome because it pays well and I will likely be in Houston again for the summer (unless I get sent to New Orleans, hopefully not). I also get a large relocation benefit based on my school location, which is far, far from where I'll be worked. Assuming I am in Houston, I might be getting an apartment near downtown since I'll have to work in Baytown, and I don't want to drive the two hours from Spring to Baytown everyday. One of my friends from MIT also got a Shell internship so we might room together. Summer is looking exciting.
Also...wait. Did I mean to type also? Is there anything else I really want to say? With regard to things that have happened to me, I don't think I want to say anything else. I don't need to rattle off every little development in my life. Not that I actually made any New Year's resolutions, but I am trying this year to enjoy the little secrets and eccentricities that make me who I am. Why should I give all that away? As I plan to tell my daughter one day, "don't put out all at once. You have to make them work for what you have to offer." I don't know if you see the similarity, but I like to think the two cases are similar. Now one final thought before I go...Of all the things I have learned at MIT, the one lesson I most hope to forget is how to be awkward in social situations. Maybe you don't learn this. Maybe it's just in the air, and we keep breathing it in. Somehow I think I've become more unsocial since being here. I suppose it doesn't help that I'm probably the most outgoing of my friends, and therefore I'm slowly descending to their level of social ability. I guess I discovered another resolution, namely to overcome this encroaching social stigma. As long as I don't end up as the creepy, silent neighbor who never comes out of his house while rumors spread down the street of what really goes on in his house. Until next time, whenever that may be. God bless.
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| If you comment and leave the color of the underwear you are currently wearing, I applaud you. And you are not a loser, a tight-ass, or insecure, at least where undergarments are concerned. That is all. God bless.
P.S. Light blue with little polar bears.
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| This may or may not be long depending on how thoroughly I want to recap the time since my last post. There is no doubt the past few weeks were probably the busiest I will have this whole semester. Why is it always the little things you have to do that cause you the most annoyance? You'll see my point eventually.
So what has happened academically these past few weeks? I've had two tests, an essay, numerous psets, numerous lab assignments, and a few technical analysis paper deadlines. Sound exciting? No? Then welcome to MIT. I would have thought the tests and essay would have kept me the busiest, but it was actually the assignments I usually do every week that caused me the most stress recently. Of course those are things that are easy to push to the last minute because they seem to have the least significance in the scope of all the work I have to do, but my inherent analness prevents me from failing to complete anything set before me. I will sweat blood until my heat transfer homework is complete, as long as the graders don't report me for "strange red splotches" on my papers. I guess as long as it's my blood and not some person whose neck I've just bitten, then everything is fine. Weird tangent there.
Moving on to something more interesting...The first orchestra concert was two weeks ago, and I must say I was very impressed by our performance. We were actually prepared for the concert for once, which was a good sign seeing as this is a transitional year for the orchestra. I am on the student search committee to find a new conductor while an interim conductor leads us this year. By now, all the candidates have rehearsed with the orchestra, and a few were very impressive. The many luncheons we had to meet the candidates caused me to miss class for the first time this semester (I was doing so well), but of course learning how the candidates interact with the students is very important in the selection process. I think I finally had a legitimate impact on MIT, even if it was only in the music department, not the most renowned subject area at this school. We should find out soon who the new conductor will be. Suspense!
I had an interview with Shell this past Friday, which when went pretty well for being my first interview with a "real world" company. A lot of the questions I was asked seemed to have self-explanatory answers, or maybe I just didn't find them hard to answer. I should find out if I get a summer internship in two weeks. The position will most likely be in Houston or New Orleans, though I'm praying for Houston. More suspense!
I have two facebook related stories. The first involves a certain group a certain friend of mine created. Half of the people that read this are in it. For the other half, just search for a group with the words "petition" and "Jeff Easley" in the title to see what I mean. Anyway, it was quite humorous and creative, even though it highlights a certain weakness of mine while under a certain influence and my sister was invited to the said group. Not the best idea. My other story is that my Halloween costume is a facebook profile (yes, not entirely a creative idea on my part, but I think it's funny). I didn't get a chance to wear it this weekend because it was extremely gross because of the intense wind and rain on Saturday. I guess that leaves tomorrow assuming I don't chicken out since I'll have to wear it all around campus. Send me some courage.
Here's something random. Two weekends ago I went to this huge pumpkin carving festival in Boston Common to get some food, enjoy the fall air, and carve some pumpkins. Guess who I ran into? Sally, as in Sally my prom date from senior year who now goes to Boston University. It was a little awkward, seeing as we haven't taked since high school, although attempts were made when she first got to Boston. So yeah, that's it, except that you never know who you'll bump into in a small but concentrated city like Boston. (I've run into 3 other people I knew in Texas randomly across the city.)
So...my 21st birthday is in 10ish days. Scary. Like whoa scary. I'm old. The weirdest part about getting older when you're still in your early 20s is the confusing feeling you get about your place in the world. Am I really an adult yet? Am I able to claim myself as a contributing member of society? Is it okay to still miss home and my parents and the security I left over two years ago? I still feel like I'm a child, at least in the sense that there is still so much for me to learn before I actually venture out into the world beyond my island of a campus. And yet I'm almost 21 and legal, i.e. I can do all of the things we see people in their mid to late 20s do on cheesy TV comedies. This is why no one makes (good) shows about people during their college years. It's just too confusing of a time. Too much drama and depression to be a decent comedy. Too much hilarity to be a decent drama. And I think I'm okay with that, just as long as my post-college days don't turn into something resembling George Lopez (although I wouldn't mind a few desperate housewives in my neighborhood).
I think this update should hold up for a few more weeks, but hopefully I'll start updating sooner because I miss writing here. In fact I welcome any writing that doesn't have to do with ancient Greek texts or technical analysis papers. Happy Halloween! God bless.
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| So, I'm in a fantasy football league, but my team has not been doing so hot. Then again only one team in my division is actually doing well, so I shouldn't be so worried just yet. I think I need to realize that the only way I'm going to do better is to actually trade players rather than just pick up free agents. But it's been fun so far, especially since the two girls in my league are kicking ass, majorly.
What else? This past weekend was the equivalent of a fall break for MIT. I had two days off for Columbus Day and a second Suicide Prevention Day. Fortunately, I don't have too much work to do besides study for a test and do some busy work. I wish I could have gone home for the weekend, but flights were too expensive as usual. I suppose I didn't miss much. At least I've been able to catch up on too much missed sleep. Yesterday I slept until noon, woke up, got dressed, and fell back asleep until 3. What a productive day. Actually I still ended up going to the mall and working on an assignment until 3 am. The problem with long weekends or short breaks is that I feel obligated not to work, and therefore I end up cramming everything into the last day. I've become ridiculously adept at procrastinating as of late. See more about this below.
Apparently people from Philly "knock people up" when they make house calls. And they say "wuder" instead of water. And they have disappointing sports teams. I just can't explain it.
So back to procrastination. For some reason I am already beginning being to feel jaded by the semester. Usually this happens in the last few weeks of the semester due to the impending finals week and subsequent freedom from work. Perhaps it is the fact that I'm now in my third year at MIT and in perhaps my last truly demanding semester. I have had no real desire to work the past two weeks, but I've managed to trudge along anyway. The sad part is that I'm at a point in my education where I can do my work without assistance and feel good about the work I've done on my own. I guess I have learned something worthwhile over the past two years. In high school everything came relatively easy to me, and I'm only just reaching that point in college. MIT tends to set you back a few notches upon arrival. So why am I procrastinating now, especially when I'm starting to realize that I'm good at what I do? The main reason seems to be that I'm not motivated nor do I find a lot of interest in my work. Of course this tends to be the general trend for people in my major. Apparently senior year makes the previous two years of boredom worth the wait. And will the wait be worth it in the end? I pray that it is everyday.
Who else was very disappointed in The Killers' new album? Everyone I've talked to at least. Why do bands feel the need to program their albums? We want albums with songs that sound good, not some overarching theme or storyline. That works for classical music, not so much for contemporary music.
I'm officially going on the retreat the lab I worked for this summer is taking to San Francisco in December. Fortunately it happens to be the week right before finals, which means I won't be missing much at school. And it is completely paid for. Awesomeness.
What else? I asked this girl out on a date a few weeks ago. It was awkward. Not the asking part, but the fact that we never ended up going out for various scheduling difficulties and we still have to see each other nearly everyday. We're both in cell biology and orchestra (she plays violin), and she is playing in this chamber music group with me. It really is too bad though. Interesting girls like her are difficult to find here.
My dad is coming to visit next weekend, parent's weekend. Should be fun.
I need to learn to write less with more substance. Added to the "to do" list. God bless.
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