September 4
My Narrative:
As I awaken again for the fifth time this night I realize that something is different. Something is wrong. This isn’t the normal pain I have been feeling for the past few months. It’s not just a nagging discomfort. I close my eyes and try to make it go away. I can usually ignore the pain.
I’m awake again. I must have been able to ignore the pain for a little bit, but now it hurts even more. I feel like someone stabbed me in the abdomen. I can’t take this anymore. I make my way to my mom’s room to ask her to call the doctor. I barely feel like I can function. It has never been so hard to walk. Why does it hurt so badly?
My mom tries to contact our physician. It must be a busy day because we are not getting through to him. After several phone calls a nurse tells us to just go to a hospital. The pain is strong and steady. I barely make it to the car.
We finally get to the hospital. After waiting in agony for many hours I finally get to see a doctor. She applies pressure to various places on my abdomen to locate the source of my pain. One spot really sets the pain off. As she presses the area I grab her arm and nearly break not even knowing what I am doing. A surgeon is sent down to see me. He tells me that I have appendicitis and need to go to the O.R. immediately. I have a feeling of slight relief knowing that soon my pain will go away. They tell me to count back from ten. Ten… Nine… Everything goes black.
September 7
This is my second week of classes here at Penn State. Its been a lot of fun so far. My roommate is my best friend from high school. We've been getting a lot of good ultimate frisbee games started. Its a great way to get exercise and meet new people. Penn State is a really big place. Just watching how many people were at the President's speech was a little overwhelming. I have really enjoyed being away from home. It is quite a change of pace now having to deal with parents telling me what to do. I have no been yelled at since I got here.
I've never done a blog or journal before so this is a pretty new experience. I'm not too keen on having my ideas all over the internet for everyone to see. I like being able to keep my ideas in my head. It is a pretty cool sense of privacy. People can hack into your computer and read all your documents. They can tap your phone conversations. They can even watch you with hidden cameras. At the moment though, we don't hae the technology to know what people are thinking (atleast I don't believe we do). Right now the only thing on my mind is the next Penn State football game. I really hope they play better than they did on last saturday.
September 8
I've never really been to keen on being a human. While we do have the ability to think and reason (although with some people that is debatable), we have a lot of other limitations. As a species we are very physically weak. Our hightened intelligence that we pride ourselves on also limits our physical strength even more. We are often too afraid to push ourselves to our limits. When we get tired we slow down rather than try harder. We make weapons and other technology with our intelligence to counteract our physical weakness and put us at the top of the foodchain. We then use our technology to kill each other, kill other creatures, and destroy our environment.
When another species, such as deer or geese becomes too numerous, we tell the hunters that those animals are in season to kill. Where I come from, people are always complaining that the deer and geese are causing too many problems and that we need to get rid of them. Now while this idea of killing part of a populatioin that is growing too big for the environment and hence destroying it makes some sense, we overlook the biggest culprit for overpopulating and destroying an environment. There are over 6 billion humans on this planet. Many of them are starving. There are clearly more humans on this planet than this planet can house. If someone were to come up with the idea that we should kill off some of the humans, they would be considered a monster. Is a human life really that much more meaningful than the life of a deer or a goose?
September 9
In class today, it was brought up that pepsi left out the god part of the pledge of allegiance on their patriot soda cans because they were afraid it would offend people. This is a valid concern on their point with all the people today trying to permanently remove the god part fromt he pledge and trying to get the ten commandments removed from court house buildings. I strongly believe that there is no god; however, at the same time don't understand where some people come off trying to get remove the concept of god from every aspect of our american lives. I've never been offended by the pledge of allegiance or seeing the ten commandments at a courthouse. I understand that I live in a predominantly Christian country. I also understand that while our country was founded with the belief in religious freedom, it was founded by Christians. I am proud to live in America. Americans are privelaged with more freedoms than almost any other country in the world. Of all the things that these privelaged citizens can complain about, I really don't understand where they come off complaining about too much god. We have separatioin of church and state. Religious organizations play a fairly insignificant role in our government, especially compared to other countries. When I attended public school I didn't have to take a religion course. There are a lot of things in this world that offend me. I find god in the pledge of allegiance much less offensive then these morons wasting their time trying to remove it.
I think it's refreshing to hear this viewpoint. Especially from someone who doesn't believe there is a god. Interesting. -WagsBlog
Though i don't agree with you on your belief in god, I do agree with you on how that stuff shouldn't be a problem. also i hate how religous groups act. they give christians a bad name -ElwoodBlues
September 13
Last night I went to the Crowbar to see Mushroomhead and Dope perform. These are two metal bands that I have had the privelage of seeing once before in my hometown. I brought one of my new friends with me so that he could go to his first metal concert. We both had a great time at the concert. Going to a metal concert is a great way to cut loose and get out some of your extra aggression. If you slam into a stranger on the street they will probably want to fight you, but if you slam into a stranger at a metal concert they just go with the flow and eventually will slam back into you. People are really laid back about aggressive acts at these concerts, and while its not something I would like to experience everyday (I'm a little sore from last night), it is a nice change of pace from the uptight real world.
I've always been impressed with the unwritten code of conduct for mosh pits that the majority of moshers just seem to know. When someone falls down you stop and pick them up. When someone wants to get out of the mosh pit you let them out. Now with the exception of the overly drunk losers that aren't even sure if they are at a concert, the people at the concert follow these two codes. There is a sense of comradery among everyone at the concert. People that wouldn't bother to help someone that was hurt on the street will pick up a person in these mosh pits. On a side note, it was really sweet being so close to my dorm after the concert. I normally had to drive an hour after the concert back at home.
September 14
I went to the PSU Tae Kwon Do club for the first time tonight. While it was an excellent work out, I wasn't very impressed with way Tae Kwon Do is done there; it seems to be a more modernized version than what I am used to. I don't really like the style of sparring done there. It is all tournament sparring. This is very good if your objective is to win metals at tournaments. However, at my school back home we focused on more practical sparring. The type that would work in a real fight. Tournament sparring involves pads and no punches to the face. I'm not used to wearing pads. I feel that it's better to take the hits directly, rather than have pads on; in a real fight no one will give you time to put on pads. No one will pull their punches. Any style that refuses to spar with punches to the face really irritates me. They dont' need to make contact. They just need to come a few inches to the face. That is the most likely place to be hit in a fight. If you're not going to practice defending attacks to the face then you will get a beating in a real fight. They also focus mainly on kicks and very little on hand techniques. I find a good combination of both to the crucial in order to become a good fighter.
I'll probably give this club a couple more tries before I decide whether or not I want to stay with it. I try not to make rash decisions. After training for 9 years and earning a second degree black belt I guess I am a little set in my ways and not very open to change. I come from a more traditional Tae Kwon Do school. I also am a rather stubborn person. For being only 18, I'm rather set in my ways. Tae Kwon Do has been apart of my life for so long that I'm not really sure what i would do without it. I guess that mediocre Tae Kwon Do is better than no Tae Kwon Do at all.
Sept 14
Convo
CMor32: i find hate groups to be a really big problem in america today
CMor32: they also haunt our past
MonLynn17: oooo
CMor32: they have been preventing us from being a truly equality based society for years
MonLynn17: what are you gonna talk about in your paper?
CMor32: probably how a lot of hate group propaganda is based on fear and distorted facts
CMor32: kinda ties into what we were talking about today about what true is
MonLynn17: ohh ok
MonLynn17: this is a good topic cuz there is a lot to talk about
CMor32: i even know some skinheads back home
CMor32: this one went on a really long rant about how we need to protect our home from black people
CMor32: it was interesting but very ignorant
MonLynn17: ohh wow
MonLynn17: anything else you can write about??
CMor32: i'll probably include some of the hate propaganda and dispute it
September 15
It has been ridiculously hot the past couple days. Everyone tells me about how cold it is out in State College. I would glady welcome some cold right now. I have had three fans on in my room full force and it has still not been very comfortable. Its times like this that I miss the glorious air conditioner in my room back home. It was like a refrigerator in my room. I've always been a big fan of the cold. In a past life perhaps I was a polar bear. The winter should be really fun here. I'm a big fan of snow. Playing football in the snow and having big snowball fights should be a lot of fun. It will be fun to climb up into a tree and throw snowballs at people. Trees are beautiful. They give us shade, oxygen, food, and much more. We need more trees, especially ones that are good for climbing. East halls has some good trees for climbing. East halls also has a really sweet weeping willow tree that would be great for taking a nap under.
If I was a polar bear in a past life I bet I had some really good times. Being a polar bear must be fun. You get to run around in the snow in warm white fur. I would be an excellent ice fisher. Polar bears are so awesome that crazy old men go swimming in the freezing water just to be like polar bears. They are really strong, too. Polar bear wrestling would be a really good sport. I hope they put it on espn some day. Other athletes won't think they're so tough after watching polar bear wrestling.
September 16
I played a fun game of ultimate frisbee yesterday. It is such a good way to get some exercise, make new friends, and spend time with your old friends. I get to release all of the extra energy I have. It also helps in coping with the stresses of everyday life. However, one thing that really bothers me when playing frisbee is when people stop trying to play like a team and just throw the frisbee as far as they can down the field in hopes that it will reach the end zone and someone will catch it. A few people on the team I was on yesterday decided that this would be a good strategy. Coincidentally, we lost horribly. When playing a team sport I find that acting like a team is normally a pretty good way to win or to atleast have it be a close game. There are too many people out there that are only concerned with being the star. It doesn't really matter how great of a player you are if your team consistently loses. I'd rather have the frisbee in my hands less and make sure its being passed around and win than look like the best frisbee player in the world and lose. I hope that the next time I play frisbee my teammates will spend more time passing and acting like a team.
September 16
One of my good friends from home, Ben, decided at the last minute that he would come visit me this weekend. It's always really exciting when a good friend from home comes to visit. Two weeks back another friend of mine came to visit. No matter how many new and exciting I meet out here, it's always great to see friends from high school come visit. I had a really good group of friends in high school, and it was really sad when we had to part our separate ways and go off to college. Ben is a great guy. He has this way of turning any situation into a great time. Once we were riding buses in Ocean City, MD and he turned a quiet bus into a party. He was telling jokes and getting the whole bus riled up. Hanging out with him tonight was a great time. We were drumming on these metal things outside of Highway Pizza. I can't wait for the rest of the fun times I'm going to have this weekend with Ben.
September 19
I'm a pretty big football fan. I really enjoy going to football games. I went to almost every highschool football game when I was in highschool. I plan to go to most of the football games here at Penn State. For the most part, I really enjoy the Penn State football games. I'm all about showing school spirit and cheering. However, some people at these games get way out of hand. People need to stop coming to games completely hammered. They take the cheering too far. They fall all over the place. They hit people with things. They are ridiculously rude. At the last game I went with my friend to the bathroom and a group of drunk kids had taken our seats. Rather than start anything we decided to just go sit with another group of our friends a few rows over. We then watched the drunk kids harass our friends that had remained sitting in front of them. They shouted in their ears. They through their pom-poms at them. They poked them. Now, I can totally understand wanting to drink a little bit. I don't have a problem with people that have a few beers while tailgating before the game. If you are going to get completely trashed before a game, just do everyone a favor and go pass out in an alley somewhere and skip the game.
Yo, it sucks that you got caught into a bad situation. But, most of the trashed people at they games don't cause any trouble. And though they might be a little rowdy they add to the full atmosphere that is college football
-ElwoodBlues
That is unfortunate. Also, and to disagree with Elwood, I don't understand why people feel the need to get really drunk and obnoxious at football games. I once set in the student section at an FSU game and that was really just out of control. People were throwing up in the aisles before half time. Personally, I think it really distracts from the game. - EschaTon
September 20
I am a pretty big science nerd. I generally get exciting when doing or talking about anything involving science. Chemistry happens to be my favorite science. I took two years of Chemistry in high school. During that time I had to do a lot of labs. Some of the labs were a lot of fun, and other I didn't like that much. However, most of the labs appeared to have a solid purpose. They backed up the information we were learning in class. I generally learned something from each lab, even if I didn't like the lab itself. Here at Penn State, I am currently taking Chem 14. It is a four hour lab that gives me one credit. Generally you get one credit for each hour of class so that in itself is pretty ridiculous. In addition, the labs that I have done so far are extremely boring, have nothing to do with what we are learning, and have taught me nothing. I would rather do my least favorite lab from high school than do any of the labs I have done here so far. Not only are these labs boring, but they are extremely easy. I think it is sad that many of the labs I did in high school are harder than the ones I am doing now in college. I feel that the labs insult my intelligence, as well as the intelligence of everyone else in my lab. The labs do not encourage innovative thought. Penn State should seriously think about a way to improve its Chem 14 class.
Georgia Tech tried this in their freshmen bio classes when I was an undergrad and it was a complete disaster. They wanted students to engage in cutting edge problems and had freshmen doing actual labwork. It was a losing situation for everyone: the students were (for the most part) confused and terrified and the professors hated it because the data was usually very poorly collected. It's sad, though, because your idea is really interesting. The danger of pedagogy is trying to rectify people who just want a grade because the class is required and engaging people who are interested in learning about the subject. It's especially hard in really gigantic classes like (I would imagine) Chem 14. -EschaTon
September 22
Thursdays are really great days. I have one class at 9am. The rest of the day I then have free. Its a great time to catch up on sleep, do homework, do laundry,and just relax. I also generally watch a good deal of abc family channel on thursdays. They have a lot of old sitcoms that I used to watch when I was younger. I get to see reruns of Full House, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, and Step by Step. When I was younger I just watched these shows because they were entertaining. I stil find them entertaining, but it's interesting to observe now the hidden message behind each show. It's like these shows are just another form of mind control in order to get children to grow up and become "ideal" adults. These shows try to get us to believe in good family values and doing the right thing. What I once thought was just another means of childhood entertainment was really a form of mind control.
September 23
Since I have gotten to PSU, the refrigerator in my dorm didn't work correctly. It barely kept things cold. I couldn't keep much in there besides water and soda. Monday I finally decided it was time to call housing and get a new refrigerator. Upon calling housing they told me that someone would be out within 15 minutes to take a look at my fridge. About 2 minutes later someone from housing was knocking on my door. They took a look and my fridge and immediatly said they would be back with a new one. Within 10 minutes of me calling housing, I had a new fridge. I was really impressed with how quickly housing worked to correct this problem. If this was the real world and I had to get a fridge or something else replaced it could easily take a month. I give housing two thumbs up.
September 24
The blog showed to us in class on Friday was a prime example of why so many people think that all Republicans are uneducated rednecks. This stereotype is clearly not true. Only some Republicans are uneducated rednecks, usually the loudest ones. As usual, the stereotype is only a small percentage of the group, just like with the militant Muslims. I happen to be a registered Republican and I can't ever recall thinking that liberals suck. A lot of Republicans I know are very intelligent and have good reasoning to back up their political beliefs. There are also a lot liberals and Democrats I know that are very intelligent and have good reasoning to back up their political beliefs. As long as people can back up their political beliefs with logic, facts, good reasoning I don't care if they are liberal or conservative. I find it to be a lot of fun to get into deep conversations with intelligent people that have polital beliefs that differe from my own. Conservatives thinking that liberals suck is one reason why is takes forever for Congress to get anything accomplished. Respecting other people's beliefs is a good way to make compromises in order to further the better good of the country. Ignorant thinking doesn't help anyone. I would really be interested to see this person's reasoning behind some of their political beliefs.
Icon
Like this eagle flying high, I always manage not to let the hardships in life get me down. No matter how difficult the challenge is, I find a way to provail. Eagles are generally associated with pride and honor. After studying Tae Kwon Do for nine years, honor is a big part of my life. We live in a world where the lines between right and wrong are often blurred, living by a code of honor is much more clear. I try not to live my life with regrets so I am generaly very proud of the things I do. I am a rather proud person, but not to the point of arrogance. There is a bright light right near the eagle's head. This represents my intelligence and mental strength. The picture also has a sense of power and strength to it. I am a rather strong person both mentally and physically.
September 26
"How to annoy your roommate"
1. Throw dirty clothes all over the room.
2. Move their stuff.
3. Hang out in their bed.
4. Play loud music while they are trying to sleep.
5. Never dump the trash.
6. Invite guests over without asking their permission.
7. Change the channel when they are watching it.
8. Get drunk and puke all over the floor.
9. After taking a shower make sure to get everything in the room as wet as possible.
10. If all else fails, stop bathing.
September 27
Last night, me a few friends went to the IM building around 10:30 to get some exercise. We decided we would play some football. There we were having a nice game of two hand touch football in one of the open gym rooms during free time. No one else was in this room. We weren't taking up the space of a club or anything like that. Someone that apparently worked there came in and told us we couldn't play football in there because we might break something. We happened to have a frisbee with us so we then decided to play frisbee instead, figuring that we wouldn't break anything with a frisbee. About a half hour later another lady came in and told us to leave and that we weren't allowed to play frisbee in the gym. I do not understand where they come off telling us we can't play sports in an open gym during free hours. The IM building is devoted to sports. There are not many places where physical activity can be done at night, especially on a rainy night. I am very angry that the employees kicked us out when we were doing nothing wrong. I am paying almost 20 grand a year to attend this college and I deserve a place to play sports at night. With the way the workers at the IM building treated me and my friends, it felt more like the NAZI building rather than the IM building. My friends and I plan to play frisbee at the IM building at nights until we get banned from there for good.
September 30
Wednesday night, me and my friends went back to the IM building to try our luck at frisbee again. This time we got in a decent amount of playing time before the lady in charge broke up our game. Once again we were told that we weren't allowed to play frisbee there. We were playing on an open basketball court this time. This was a different room. There was absolutely nothing we could break. We were separated from the basketball games so we weren't in the way of anyone else. We were just minding our business having some fun. This time, the lady didn't even give us a reason for not being able to play frisbee. She just told us that frisbee couldn't be played in the room we were in. Since we were still up for playing something, we then decided to play basketball until the gym closed. When we got back to our dorm one of my friends on the floor decided to compose a letter asking the head of the IM building if we could get permission to play frisbee there. Hopefully we will get a good response and we won't be constantly bothered when we are just trying to play a good wholesome game.
October 1
Today was an amazing Penn State football game. It was really exciting to watch Penn State win what could be the biggest game of the season. I also had a lot of fun cheering with my friends until we all had sore throats. One thing that bothers me at the games is when fans taunt players on the opposing team or boo the opposing team. I'm all about showing school spirit. I wear my psu hat and shirt to the games. I cheer for the team to win. However, booing the opposing team is not good school spirit. It doesn't boost up our team. It just makes us look like a bunch of assholes. A large portion of my section spent a lot of time shouting at the Minnesota defensive player #15. "Fuck you 15," was the most common chant. I'm not saying that we should be friendly to our opposing teams, but we should atleast show some class and some good sportsmanship.
October 3
I'm full of injuries right now. It's not too fun. Playing frisbee Friday I pulled my achilles tendon. It didn't feel all that bad over the weekend, but I guess all of the standing and jumping at the football game must have aggrevated it a little bit. This morning when I was walking up and down steps and going from class to class the pain was pretty bad. Walking all the way home from the Hammond building back to East Halls was a pretty big mistake. Then I rested it in the evening for a while and when my friends wanted me to go back with them to the IM building to play some football and frisbee I decided it would be a good idea to go and play. The good news was that we weren't hassled at the IM building this time and no one kicked us out. The bad news was that I aggrevated my achilles tendon again, hurt the same ankle, and banged up both my knees. I'm not really sure why I decide to make bad decisions like these. I really hope that through bioengineering I am able to make some really good cyberbiotic parts. I'd definitely be up for replacing both my legs with some really strong robotic legs.
October 4
Three of my closest friends from high school are going to be visiting me and my roommate this weekend. Words cannot express how happy this makes me. For a while, my friend Greg has been planning to come to visit us this upcoming weekend. Then last week my friend Venkatesh finally found a weekend he could come visit. It just so happened that it was the same weekend Greg was coming. Tonight i find out that my friend Avinash will be joining us this weekend, as well. Even though the room will be rather crowded, my roommate and I will make do. This is going to be one of the most amazing weekends of my life. Not only will I get to see three people I have really missed since college started, but there will be one hell of a Penn State footbal game this weekend.
October 5
Today was pretty crazy. I woke up and had a bad headache and was pretty dizzy. I decided it would be best if i took it easy and skipped my first class and slept a little longer. Then I decided to go to English class, mostly because I didn't see the point in missing a class that was so close to where I live. Then I came back to my dorm, ate lunch, and took a nap. When I woke up I felt even worse. Now the room was spinning and I felt like I was going to vomit. I skipped my last class of the day and sat in bed for a while doing nothing. Eventually I felt a little better so I got up and did some homework. I suppose that anyone that reads this blog would assume I went out last night and had too much to drink and woke up with a hangover. The crazy part is that I didn't drink last night. Every now and then I get what feels like a hangover for absolutely no reason. Life is strange.
October 6
I just saw a commerical for a movie called Domino. I've seen a few previews in theaters and a few other commercials for this movie. I have absolutely no idea what this movie is supposed to be about. Normally, the commercials and previews give you somewhat of an idea about the plot. I can't imagine that these commercials and previews are motivating anyone to go see this movie. I guess there is the whole curiosity issue, but the commercials is so vague that there isn't enough info given out to be curious about it. Maybe this movie will turn out to be really good, but I think the ticket sales will suffer due to poor advertising.
October 9
http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_cambodia1.html∞
http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_cambodia.html∞
It really is unbelievable that humans are capable of such horrible things. Treating humans like they are property is a terrible thing. The Khmer Rouge claimed to be acting in the name of communism. I don't see how the mass murder of all those Cambodians had anything to do with communism. I have read "The Communist Manifesto" and done a book report on it. I certainly don't claim to be an expert on true communism but I have a pretty good idea what it is. It wasn't even possible that the Khmer Rouge's methods were a means to become a communist nation. In my English class last year we read First They Killed My Father. That was the first time I had ever heard about the genocide in Cambodia. I have heard about a lot of genocides during my years of schooling. I would imagine that in our English class now, a lot of people are learning about the atrocities in Cambodia for the first time. It is mind-boggling that so few people are away of what went on in Cambodia. More people should be educated about it.
October 10
I decided that for the Ohio State game I would show school spirit by painting my hair white with a blue stripe down the center. My friends and I had been searching for blue and white hair spray. We had a busy week last week so we didn't have a lot of time to search. The night before the game we went out to Walmart in a last attempt to find adequate hair spray. We found blue hair spray in the Halloween section but could not find white hair spray. We were not in a panic. We had very little time left to catch the bus back to campus. We had only one option left... real spray paint. We went over to the paint section and found a can of white spray paint and a can of blue spray paint. The paint was slightly toxic. I decided that this would have to be better than nothing. Saturday morning my friends put a bunch of plastic bags over my face and shirt so that we didn't get paint everywhere. They then spray painted my hair. The paint job ended up looking really good. My hair was a lot whiter than anyone else's at the game. Many people were giving me compliments on my hair. However, my hair was completely clumped together. Getting the paint out after the game would be quite the task. After dumping a bottle of rubbing alcohol into my hair and washing my hair with water and shampoo twice, a lot of paint was still left in my hair. I was really tired so I decided to just go to bed and work on getting the paint out tomorrow. The next morning there was paint chips all in over my pillows and spread throughout my beard. I then proceeded to wash my hair with shampoo and water three more times. It didn't seem that the paint would be coming out anytime soon. I knew what I had to do. After a little over a month of growing my hair out (this was the longest my hair has been in five years) it would have to be shaved. I would also have to shave my beard to match with my hair. I got a friend of mine on my floor to do the shaving. I felt rather naked with the lack of hair. Many people didn't even reckognize me. If I had to do it all over again would I? Of course! No sacrifice is too big in order to help Penn State lead the Big Ten Conference.
October 11
I'm really looking foward to this extra day in the weekend. Since I have only once class on Thursdays, my weekends begins at 10am on Thursday. After barely doing anything besides football stuff last weekend I can really use this weekend to catch up on homework and sleep. I'm still pretty drained for the Ohio State game and all the activities that occurred because of it. My friend may also come out to visit this weekend and he may bring my 16 year old brother. It will be great to see the two of them if they are able to make it out here. Me and my brother are really close and he's having a difficult time at home with my mom, without me being there. When I was home the brunt of her verbal abuse was split between the two of us but without me there I am sure he's getting a lot more. I'm sure he can use a break from my house. Its a bit weird not having him around. He's the one I miss most from back home. He's a cool kid to hang with and he gets along with all my friends. He is also an excellent partner in crime. If we had been fraternal twins, we would have given teachers strokes in grade school.
October 12
Staplers are quite the invention. They are a great way to bind papers together. Staplers and small and rather inexpensive. They also make great toys. You can have hours of fun shooting staples at your friends. Staplers also come in many shapes and colors. My roommate has a gray stapler with rounded edges. I have a black stapler with squared off edges. Perhaps the greatest stapler of our time is Milton's red stapler in the movie Office Space. I doubt we will ever see a more influential stapler.
My favorite thing about milton's stapler is that Swingline didn't even make a red stapler before that movie came out. After the movie, though, they had to start producing them because of the demand. - EschaTon
October 18
Over the past weekend I went to Walmart. To my suprise, I found a #10 can full of chocolate pudding. These cans of pudding are amazing. I spent about three weeks over the summer trying to find one of these cans back home. I went to several supermarkets and other stores where food would be sold. I failed to find one of these pudding cans. Then as I am doing some food shopping at the Walmart in State College, I randomly come across a big can of pudding. Its funny how things work out.
October 19
For some reason, people keep smashing fruit in the stairwell in Brumbaugh halls. I am really sick of coming up the stairwell and stepping in apples, bananas, oranges, and whatever else they are smashing in there. My stairwell is not a trashcan. It is not a back alley. It is a stairwell in a residence hall and should be respected. Not only is the smashed fruit an inconvenience for the residents in my hall, but the cleaning ladies have to keep cleaning this shit up. Me and a lot of the guys on the floor are getting fed up with this nonsense. If we catch the people that are doing this we are going to lay quite the beating on them.
October 19
I miss Wawa. It is the best convenience store the world has ever seen. They have the best hoagies and iced teas. There are no Wawas out here. I have yet to find a convenience store as wonderful as Wawa. Not only was Wawa a convenience store but it was a great place to go late at night. Many a night I have been to Wawa at as late as 4am. Penn State needs a Wawa. I will not be satisfied until State College, PA has a Wawa.
October 24
I've never been a very big fan of poetry. Perhaps the thing I dislike most about it is how it rarely comes right out and says what it means. I believe in being straightfoward. This poem appears to be about someone just looking outside and admiring what he sees on farm land. However, most likely it is about something else. The point of the poem is probably over my head. I'm pretty indifferent to this particular poem. I like this at is short, so I dind't have to waste a lot of time reading something that I have no idea what it is really about. This is a poem because it is written in verse rather than prose.
October 25
There are so many things to consider when having a shark and a bear fight. Where is this fight taking place? Is it on land? If so the bear will definitely win since sharks don't function well out of water. Is it in the ocean? If so the shark will definitely win since bears, like most land animals, don't function well in deep waters. Clearly the only fair battleground would be in water about 5 feet deep. The next big question is what kind of shark and what kind of bear are we using in the fight. Different types of sharks and bears and more ferocious than other types. Using a very ferocious shark and a more mild bear or vice versa would not be a fair fight. More details must be known of this potential fight before a winner can be predicted.
October 26
I went to Walmart tonight to get some lactaid milk. Since I've been out here I have been craving some milk and cereal. However, I am lactose-intolerate, so I can't drink regular milk. Unfortunately there is no where to buy lactose-free milk on campus. It will be good to have milk and cereal once again.
October 27
My roommate's girlfriend brought over a pumpkin tonight so we decided to carve it. Luckily, I had a few knives laying around. Using a throwing knife to carve a pumpkin was quite an experience. Throwing knives are definitely not made for carving pumpkins. The pumpkin's eyes look okay, but the mouth is pretty bad. I had a fun time carving the pumpkin with my friends but the pumpkin will never win a carving contest.
October 28
The Simpsons episodes we watched today in class poked fun at a few horror movies. The intro where Marge is warning parents that the episode may be too scary for younger viewers is not actually a warning. It is making fun of how ridiculous many people are today with censorship. People are overly concerned with not showing scary or innapropriate material to children. Nothing in the episode is actually scary. It however points out how ridiculous some of the story lines are in horror movies. It is a good way to show that many horror movies are actually not scary if you look at them from a certain perspective.
November 1
Last night I decided to go out trick-or-treating. It was quite an adventurous night. First I got hit by a car. Then the candy I received ended up having razor blades in it. This nice old lady was giving out apples but they turned out to be poisonous. Man did I get tricked. Maybe they should get rid of halloween.
November 1
Tonight a couple guys on my floor were getting their heads buzzed so I decided to join in on the party. Then, one of the guys thought I should bic my head. I used to do this a lot so I decided to meet his request. I got a couple cuts on my head while shaving. This is quite a nuissance. Although I like the way my head looks shaved, I'm hoping these cuts will heals soon.
November 2
Right now I'm trying to find a place off campus, but close to campus, to live in next year. It's a lot tougher than I thought to get all these things in order. My uncle is going to be buying a place and then renting it out to me and a few friends. The place I am currently looking at sounds pretty good. Two different realtors have showed me the website for the place. However, one of them quoted the price at $215,000 and the other one quoted it at $200,000. Obviously something one of them is trying to scam me. I think it's pretty obvious which realtor will be getting my business.
November 3
I'm trying to write the formal lab report for Chem 14 right now. The explanation given in the student packet barely explains anything on how to write the lab. I can never understand what my TA is saying. Everyone I talk to has a different idea of what needs to be done for this lab report. I really really really hate Chem 14. I'll be so happy when this class is over.
November 6
It's been a great weekend. Two of my friends from back home visited me. Penn State won a crucial game and has moved up in the rankings once again. It is a little sad though that this is the last home game of the season. I'm not really sure what I'll be doing with myself on Saturdays. Back at home I always worked on Saturdays and since I got to Penn State there has always been football on Saturdays. Maybe it's time to take up a new hobby.
November 7
I have course selection on Thursday so I've been taking a look at the times I can take classes next semester. It's looking like I'm going to have an 8am classes a couple days a week. My schedule is looking like the majority of my classes will be taken in the morning. This isn't a very good thing for me. I'm not a morning person. I can barely get up for my 10am class right now. I'm hoping that I can get up for my classes next semester. I wish that Penn State had a wider range of times available for some classes.
November 8
Today was my last lab class of Chem 14. All I have left is the final test for the class and then I am finally done with what ended up being my least favorite class ever. No more will I be doing meaningless experiments and spending four hours every Tuesday sitting around in Whitmore trying to decifer vague lab instructions. No more will I want to rip my eyes out. Chem lab is done... atleast until Chem 15 next semester.
November 9
I took my last calc test today before the final. I also scheduled my classes for next semester. These two things are now off my shoulders and I have less than I need to focus on. I think I might have apnea. I need to go to a sleep clinic over winter break.
November 10
I really wish that laundry would learn to do itself. It is a big hassle to find an hour and forty minutes when I'll be around to remember transferring it from the washer to the dryer and then taking it out of the dryer. Clearly I'm not the only one that finds this to be a hassle since people in my building forget to take their clothes out of the laundry machines well after they are finished. I have no washer and dryer on my floor so I either have to go to the guys floor below or the girls floor above. The guys floor below tend to have the machines in use, so I often find myself using the third floor machines. Last night when my clothes got finished in the washer I went to put them in the dryer but it was full of feminine clothes. They had been fully dried so they could be removed but I just felt weird touching some girl's clothes. I was also worried that if I had removed the clothes, the girl who owned them might walk in on me removing her clothes and there would be an awkward moment as I would be standint there holding her bra or something. I decided to periodically check back until the clothes were removed. Eventually they were removed and I could finish my laundry.
November 10
Easy Mac is some damn good stuff. It takes about four minutes to make. All you need is some water, the Easy Mac packet, a bowl, and a microwave. It has to be one of the easiest foods to prepare. Unlike a lot of microwaveable foods Easy Mac actually tastes good and doesn't leave you feeling a little ill afterwards. I commend Kraft for this fine product.
November 14
Fresh fruit is a really great snack. There is a shortage of fresh fruit on the campus. Lots of times late at night when I want a snack, I feel like having an apple or a banana but there is none to be found. The little convenience stores in the commons buildings dont' sell fresh fruit but they should. There is fresh fruit in the commons buffet but you can only bring one piece back with you and I don't have a lot of time to sit down to meals. Normally I have to grab my meals to go. Penn State should make it easier for its students to get fruit.
November 15
Just in case anyone took me too seriously when I presented on Monday, I do not actually want to get rid of police. I personally don't like police. I don't trust police. I certaintly don't agree with a lot of their actions. However, I see there purpose in society. Without them cities would probably be run by gangs and crime lords (that is to say they aren't run by them now...). I thought that speaking out against police would be a good topic to give a speech on. After all, I managed to get a lot of responses from the class. I thought I would clear this up for anyone to read in my blog just in case anyone thinks I'm crazy now. For the record, I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy.
November 16
Well it's a Wednesday night and I'm pretty bored. I just took my last test of the semester before finals. It's pretty weird how fast this semester has gone by. I'm having such a good here. I hope my college experience doesn't go by too fast.
November 16
http://dx.em411.com/release/em411_com-release-2291.jpg∞
This is a pretty simple image but it says a lot. There is a cop that is about to strike a helpless lady with his night-stick. The lady is raising her arm to protect herself as she recoils in fear. This image could be used in my paper on the cover page or as part of the police brutality section. This image would be a very good icon to represent police brutality.
November 17
I do not like the soap they sell on campus. The soap does not mix with well the hard water in the showers. I am quite partial to dove soap. It is 25% moisturizer which helps to combat the hard water. Dove soap makes my skin feel clean and fresh.
November 28
I had a great Thanksgiving break. I got to see so many of my good friends from high school. I spent about 10 hours total sleeping the entire break because I was hanging out with so many people. I went Black Friday shopping at 4am with some friends just for the sake of watching the craziness. There was a ritual large gathering at Denny's. We had a decent sized football game where we pretty much killed each other. I got tackled on my head and have black and blue marks all over my body. My muscles have never been so sore. I couldn't have asked for a better break. In two weeks I get to go home and see my high school friends again.
November 29
I went back to the gym tonight after not being able to go over Thanksgiving break. It feels good to be back lifting. I think I'm going ot join a gym over the summer so that I can keep up with it.
Holloway, Brandon. "Police Corruption." International Encyclopeida of Justice Studies. (2002): 29 November 2005. <http://www.iejs.com/Policing/police_corruption.htm∞>
"Police Corruption is defined as the abuse of police authority for personal or organizational gain" (Holloway).
November 30
Well the semester is wrapping up and I'm pretty happy about that. For the most part I'm really sick of my classes. I get so much busy work. In math and chemistry, especially, I just get loads of tedious, repetivie hw problems. They get collected for a grade so I have to do them. I really wish I could just take tests and be left alone. Chem lab is finally over and I gave that class and my TA a pretty bad review. I really hated that class.
December 1
I've had this pumpkin in my room since mid-October. My roommate and I named her Betty. She has become an important part of our room. However, pumpkins don't last forever. I fear that Betty is beginning to internally rot. She sounds very hollow. Soon she will probably show signs of rotting on the outside and then I will have to get rid of her. She is the best pumpkin I have ever owned.
December 3
This is going to be a very exciting football weekend. There are some very important college games today. Two games could affect Penn State going to the Rose Bowl. A lot of other games are conference finals which are always exciting to watch. On Sunday there are a lot of important division games. I'm hoping that the Giants beat the Cowboys because I would hate to see the Cowboys win the division. They are definitly the team I hate the most in the NFL. I'll probably spend this entire weekend watching football and writing my paper.
December 5
I really want some clementines. The last time I went to Walmart they were all out of clementines. I really need to get a nice big box of clementines and perhaps have a clementine eating contest with some of the guys on my floor. Clementines are by far one of the best fruits out there.
Clementines are quite awesome. In Atlanta at this produce market I frequented, we used to get these Israeli Clementines called "Suntinas." If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend them: they are like Clementines but more acidic. Highly delicious. - EschaTon
December 6
I brought a desk chair with me to college rather than use one of the uncomfortable chairs they supply us with. This chair is capable of reclining backwards if you learn back. At the moment my chair is not leaning back all the way. When I push backwards there is resistance, and it feels like something is jammed. I hope that I can figure out what is wrong with my chair.
December 7
I really dislike group projects. I normally end up doing most of the work. Today I had to take my lunch time and go work on my project because someone in my group didn't do what they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it. Our group was presenting our project today and the kid didn't show up to present. It really made me angry.
December 8
It feels really good to be done my English paper and my Engineering final project. I didn't have any classes today so I got to relax a lot. I only have one class tomorrow. The only thing I still have to do is do some light studying for two finals that I really understand the material for them. Monday night I'm out of here and I get to go back home.
December 9
Advice to people taking English 15 in the future:
Go to class. This is one of the few classes I have taken so far where you actually learn stuff in class that you can't just read in a book. Try and get your papers done early so you can take them to the teacher's office hours. Office hours are really helpful. You get to learn important skills on how to write better and it makes it a lot easier to get an A on the paper. Getting your paper done early also provides you with more time to revise it and think about how strong your arguement is. I found English 15 to be very helpful and I recommend taking it (not that you really have a choice).
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