Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for my amazing family who support me throughout all I do.
I'm thankful for my brother, who is stronger and way more interesting than he thinks he is.
I'm thankful for my sister and her energy and enthusiasm.
I'm thankful for my mom, who always means the best for me.
I'm thankful for my dad, the calm eye of the storm.
I'm thankful for my grandparents, all of them, who have spoiled me and fed me more than I deserve, and continue to endure.
I'm thankful for my cousins, and the endless games of Apples to Apples and all the laughter.
I'm thankful for the other assorted people who are related to me, who always seem to pop up in the weirdest places.
I'm thankful for all my aunts and uncles who lend flavor to family gatherings in more ways than one.
I'm thankful for the opportunity to attend the University of Arizona and have all these great experiences that I've had.
I'm thankful for my friends, past, present, and future, for making me laugh and for lending an ear.
I'm thankful for where I live, which has allowed me to meet so many of those friends.
I'm thankful for having food to eat, water to drink, and a place to sleep.
I'm thankful for all the great experiences I've had which have enriched my life.
I'm thankful for my books which let me get out of my head for a little.
I'm thankful for my life and my health, without which I would have none of the above.

Alright, Thanksgiving is over which means Christmas is now legal.

Winter is Coming

What's out: short shorts, sanity, and the color yellow.
What's in: hoodies galore, facial hair, and the color blue.

No-Shave November has hit its peak - at a guess, I'd guess that at least half the males on campus have taken advantage of the excuse not to shave for a month, the vast majority not giving it any greater significance. It's almost funny seeing the full range of facial hair from those who can barely grow peach fuzz to those people who went from nothing to full on Chuck Norris beard and mustache. However, at this point, a good number of them who were raring to go at the beginning of the month have chopped off their 'beards' complaining of the itch.

It's finally gotten cold, and the weather turned quick - last Saturday day was sunny and beautiful, but that night got down to below 50 degrees. As such, that Monday, the hoodies came out in force. It was almost comical to see everyone in cold weather gear varying from "light breeze" to "Oh crap a blizzard's coming!" So now, I guess it is officially winter.

On Monday there was a talent show for the three dorms on Historic Lane (but mostly Yuma). We have some seriously talented people living here. Mom would be happy to know that those Irish Dance lessons finally paid off. I danced barefoot and was extremely well received.

Otherwise, pretty boring week. Some of my classes were still a little scrambled from the Tuesday off for Veteran's Day (especially my lab), but there really hasn't been much new by way of classes.

From Facebook, a post which was surprisingly well liked: I have more library cards than the average American has credit cards. Help, I'm a biblioholic!
(The average American who has credit cards has 3.7, average among all Americans is 2.6 {from here}. I have 4 library cards, all of which I use fairly regularly).
I also found a cute little library within scootering distance, so I don't have to go brave downtown to get my book fix. (cue parents' groans).

Also from Facebook, a beautiful picture of me exhibiting for homecoming (there was another guy there helping out, too):

Song of the week - "Clocks" by Coldplay. Nothing else compares.

Thanks, have a good week!

Post Homecoming, Pre-Unviverse

In cosmically cool news, a refrigerator probe launched by the European Space Agency (the EU's answer to NASA) successfully touched down on a comet two times as far away from Earth as Mars and about 1.5 miles across at its widest point. (xkcd covered it live). This is the first time anything human made has purposefully landed on a comet. The Philae lander is taking pictures and recording sound, and taking and analyzing samples and what it has sent back (with a 27 minute delay, of course) is pretty amazing.


In relatively inconsequential local news, homecoming was a lot of fun. I didn't go to the game (I know, shame on me, no excuses, how could you, etc.), but I got to help present UA Rube on the Mall. We were in the College of Engineering tent, where all the best food (and the coolest people) were, sharing a table with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (Bake sale!), who were pretty cool. We showed a video of our machine so far (from the beginning cup cascade to the pan zip line), and, when little kids seemed really interested, I showed the MTD/waterfall piece (that I painted!) from last year's machine. It was really cool to see people, especially kids, so interested in something that I spend too much time doing. Oh, and the homecoming parade was pretty cool, too. Funny thing - the only Greek float that got a cheer from the COE tent was the Theta Tau (engineering fraternity) float - the rest seemed to be met with death stares. The Society of Automotive Engineers, who showed their Baja and Formula cars in the parade, got huge cheers, as did the band. I guess we're all slightly vindictive nerds.

It was fantastic seeing my parents over the weekend. I'm glad they came, and I think they had a good time too. They got to see a lot of their old friends, see the campus again (including a personal tour of the rec center), and (of course), see their darling daughter again.

We've started playing with solenoids (large coils of wire) in lab, using magnets to induce current, inspiring all the manner of dirty jokes. In learning about electricity and magnetism, I've also learned a lot of right-handed physics gang signs along the way.
We've almost finished reading a play, La dama del alba, in Spanish. It's pretty depressing - it's a soap opera with a characterization of Death in a pilgrim woman, which leads to all kinds of shenanigans and accusations. I'm enjoying it so far.
The theater dance of the past few weeks has been "Sherry Baby" from Jersey Boys, featuring an annoyingly high falsetto singer and a tricky six-step.
Nothing that exciting is happening in my other classes, but I'm powering through. I'm going to be okay this semester.

Song of the week (because I've got xkcd on the mind and it's funny) is "Every Major's Terrible," based on "Modern Major General" from Pirates of Penzance.

(Original comic here)

Homecoming Mark 2.0

It's homecoming weekend, which means white quadropedic tents have taken over the mall, tug of war mud pits can be found in random places, and people are trying (and failing) to get the student body excited about what should be a mediocre game on a weekend where so much other stuff is happening. But hey, there's free food.

I'm not too excited about the football game, because Colorado is currently at the bottom of the PAC-12 and despite losing to UCLA, we're still one of the best teams in the country. I am excited about seeing my parents whom I have not seen since I went off to school in August. That will be interesting.

It's been a bit of an off week - no tests (phew) but just a paper on Choctaw language revitalization to write (it's pretty cool - there's an app for that - the language, that is ;). I aced a Statics test (because I truss in free bodies) which was pretty cool.

A good number of my friends concluded that I am better than their collective fathers at "dad jokes" especially the ones involving corny puns (What did the monster drink his beer from? A Franken-STEIN!) I was a-maized that they thought that of me, and took it as a tall compliment. Hopefully there were no strings attached.

My Halloween day was pretty boring; but on November 1st after a long day of building for Rube, I went to a costume get together at one of the Rube girl's houses. It was really low key, but I'm glad I went. I'm sure our dance to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" is still floating around somewhere. No, I didn't get anyone to take pictures of me in costume. Sorry. It wasn't that great anyway - half of every other girl was also dressed as a black cat in various degrees of dress. I had a black shirt, cute short sleeved jacket, black pants, and of course, duct taped black cat ears. It required a minimum of effort, but I still looked good in it.

Also, speaking of Rube, we got the machine to work across the top part of the counter. This part of the machine involves cups, spatulas, blenders, and birds and is really impressive. If you're on Facebook, there's a video here.

On a side note, it's National Novel Writing Month. No, I'm not writing a novel (I don't have the time to churn out 1,667 words per day) but I am writing a short story. You can check out my progress - right now it's called "The Machine" and can be found under the tab labelled as such on the home page of this blog. Let me know what you think.

And of course - song of the week has got to be "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes - the quintessential football drone.

Thanks, everyone!

 

Halloween Time

Hey everyone, I'm posting early because I've been posting late the last couple of weeks and because I probably won't tomorrow, tomorrow being All Hallows Eve and I may or may not be busy. Right now, I'm wearing my excuse for a costume (dead Star Trek crew member[which is a red t shirt and black pants]) because the costume I put a little bit of effort in (a black cat) is reserved for day of. I will post pictures when I have them.

I'm finally done with this round of midterms, and I can now think without my brain exploding, so here's what I've been learning:

• Statics - funky applications of the equations of equilibrium (sum of forces in x, sum of forces in y, and sum of moments/torque all equal zero). Why bridges need to breathe. Reactions to moments.
• Vector Calc - There's not one funky "S" shape, not two funky "S" shapes, but THREE funky "S" shapes that must be gotten rid of, while using cylinders and spheres. Yes, triple integration. With polar coordinates.
• Physics - This is all;
  But really, we are learning about circuits, capacitors resistors, diodes and the like.
• American Indian Languages - I can tell you the difference between a phoneme and an allophone, but I still can't speak a word of Tohono O'odham.
• Theater Dance - we're learning the finale from Footloose (the one with Kevin Bacon) for the next few weeks.

And that's my academics.

In other news, I got to see the UA Dance program's showcase, and they are amazing and beautiful. I have no idea how they move their bodies like they do.

The song of the week has been stuck in my head - "Anna Sun" by Walk the Moon.

(And of course, OK GO's newest video, which is very cool from an engineering standpoint - "I Won't Let You Down" - shot using a multirotor copter and on self-balancing unicycles) 

Almost Halloweentime

Sorry I haven't written in a while. It's been crazy. It seems like I've had about a month straight of midterms, and it's not over until next Wednesday. It started with the classes that have four tests, then the true midterms, and finishes with the classes with four exams again. So, I've been pretty busy and going insane academically.

Also, this past Friday and Saturday was the Historic Lane Haunted Dungeon. This is an annual event where people from three residence halls make an extremely scary maze through the basements and the backyard in order to get canned food for charity. (It's roughly analogous to an amateur Knott's Scary Farm maze.) It takes a lot of work, but it always looks amazing. It's a huge deal. We even got featured in the Daily Wildcat. This year, the dungeon was a creepy dollhouse, with cracked porcelain, unstrung marionettes, and crazed Barbies. I was a puppet with a puppet who was one of the first things people saw when they walked down into the basement.  

Overall, we were very successful. We moved over 800 people through the dungeons over two nights and had a lot of canned goods. In my particular section, we scared some people so badly that they couldn't continue and left. We got a lot of good screams, and I even got a few "that is the freakiest things ever"s. That was a ton of fun.

Here's the people who were in Gila basement with me:

And here's the entire cast:

So that's been keeping me busy.

In other news, I helped design and perfect the first step of this year's Rube Goldberg machine. It's a water step where water flows from one cup to the the next, eventually weighing down a cup at the bottom, and it works really well.

I'm doing okay right now, keeping it together and staying busy. However, no matter how much I try, bedtime is unfortunately rarely before midnight anymore.

Song of the week is The Overture from Tommy, by the Who, just cuz.

Stories

There are a couple of stories that I keep remembering and want to share. Neither of these are my own, but I am probably not quoting exactly. I'm not going to moralize; you can figure those out yourselves.

The first one is a story that has been pinned to the dining room bulletin board since "from the Internet" was a novelty. All I know about where it comes from is that it ends with a Christian moral and it's labeled "Adult Corner" with a funky glyph. And it goes a little like this:

Once in a land far away, there was a king. The king had a friend that, no matter what happened, always remarked, "This is good!" This annoyed the king to no end, but he kept his friend around anyways.
One day the king and his friend went out hunting. The friend loaded the king's rifle and handed it to the king, who sighted a lion. He aimed and squeezed the trigger, causing the gun to explode. When the dust cleared, the king and his friend realized that the king had lost his thumb.
"This is good!" the friend remarked.
"No, this is not good!" the king exclaimed, and threw his friend into the dungeons.
A while later, the king went out hunting again, and subsequently got captured by cannibals. As the cannibals were putting the king into the fire, they realized the king was missing a thumb. Because they did not eat people who were not whole, they let the king go free.
The king went back to his castle and immediately let his friend out of jail.
"I am sorry. It was bad of me to put you into jail," said the king to the friend.
"No, it was good. Everything worked out how it was supposed to," replied the friend.
The king was confused, and asked why.
The friend replied "If I had not been here, I would have been with you."  

I know even less about the origin of this second one, but I know I found it near the beginning of my obsession with OKGO and Rube Goldberg machines. It's shorter and still relevant. Here's my retelling:

Once a Persian sultan who felt like he was missing something from his life. He tried many things, but still couldn't find what he was looking for.
So he called a meeting of the wisest philosophers in the land and gave them a challenge - find him something that would make him happy when he was sad and sad when he was happy. Whoever achieved this seemingly impossible task would receive riches and renown beyond his wildest dreams.
And so they began.
One brought him a bracelet of silver and gold as a reminder that beauty exists, but that only made him temporarily happy.
Another brought a tiger pelt as a reminder that all things die, but that only made him sad.
And so the gifts kept coming - jewels and plates and plants and people - and none succeeded in making the king happy when he was sad and sad when he was happy. News of the contest spread far and wide.
Finally, a simple goldsmith came and presented the king with his gift - a simple golden band with the words "This too shall pass." The king broke down and wept. He had found something that would make him happy when he was sad and sad when he was happy. The goldsmith lived on, news his wealth and fame spread wide.
But he remembered, that, despite all his new riches, that nothing lasts forever and that this, too, would pass.

Welcome to Dragon Scales

And the testing continues this week and into next week. There is a never ending cycle of homework and tests and studying that I cannot escape. You cannot escape. We are all trapped in a never ending cycle. Welcome to Dragon Scales (cue creepy intro music).

In Sports news, my intramural Capture the Flag team won second place in the league. Who beat us? A team consisting of the running club with a few despicable sprinters they recruited. We were the guinea pigs of Campus Rec's Secret IM Referees for making Capture the Flag a scoreable sport, and as such, we were still asking about the rules well into the final game.I'm glad I played, though I probably will opt for indoor soccer next time.

 On to Arts - two weeks ago I had the opportunity to see the legendary U of A School of Dance in action. They were amazing. Each dancer had such minute control over his or her body. It was uncanny to watch how they moved. In other arts news, I now have "Swing, Swing,  Swing" stuck in my head from my dance class.

We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsors. Is that a hand hovering over your shoulder? It might be. Don't look. Don't think about it. Look again - it is gone. But you do not know when it will return. Will it surprise you when reading your emails? When you're watching a movie? Maybe when you come back and read this same blog again? You never know. In-n-Out Burger - Quality you can taste.

Community calendar - Friday - an irregular influx of people between the ages of 35 and 65 have invaded campus for family weekend. I expect they will disappear as quickly as they appeared, leaving little trace but the odd leftover box in the refrigerator. Saturday - building strange machines with strange people in the Civil Engineering building while avoiding paddle bits. Also, a battle royal between wildcats and Trojans.

As I try to escape the darkness, I give you - the weather! "Iris" by the GooGoo Dolls  

The night is calm and quiet. Everyone has left and the normal order is restored. Keep watch, and keep calm. Good night Dragon Scales, Good night.

(Just fyi, this week's blog entry is loosely based on the format of the popular podcast "Welcome to Night Vale," which is my treat for when I fold clothes. Today's proverb - A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush - but why not just take the bush? Your yard needs the foliage)

Slaying the Beast (Maybe)

This is a little later than usual... thus is the tyranny of laundry.

This week began the tests of intelligence, fortitude and speed. (You try solving five multi-part physics problems plus one extra credit in 50 minutes - not easy.) I studied long and hard, for many days and many nights, and can only hope that I slayed the beasts that my sorcerous professors concocted. My swords of graphite were strong; my shield, vulcanized; and my will iron. The beasts at least received a few good cuts each.

This week marks the start of Haunted Dungeon planning. This year it will be larger and longer than ever, and the dollhouse theme should be creepy and fun to design around. (Any ideas? Comment below and I'll pass them along!) Last year's dungeon literally scared the crap out of people, so tehre are some high expectations for this year's dungeon.

I now take the pictures for Rube (so you probably won't see me in the pictures anymore).

I'm looking forward to another good week.

I'm working on an opinion piece which will be coming within the weekend.

Song of the week: in memorium of the Cal Bear's confidence, Weird Al Yankovich's "Sport's Song."

Odile and Other Things

First, they threatened us with Hurricane Odile. The next day, Tropical Storm Odile was raring up Baja Mexico, coming to get us. What actually came? Light Sprinkle Odile, followed by a few perfect 80 degree days.

Monday was wet, so Tuesday an official email was sent out, threatening the closure of campus if the predicted record 5 inches of rain actually hit Tucson. The College of Engineering actually did cancel all classes after 1 PM on Wednesday. We only got hit with a little overnight sprinkle, and you could hear a collective groan coming from the campus when the email saying that classes would be in session went out. 

Other than that, nothing too exciting happened this week. I went to class and clubs, had a math test, did homework, studied, and stuff like that. There's a slight possibility I was on TV during the Nevada game, but I was too far from the 50 to really get on screen. Planning for this year's Haunted Dungeon has started - it's The Collection, a dollhouse theme featuring Yuma, Gila and Maricopa residence halls.

That's all for this week! This week's song of the week, which my dad encourages me continually to listen to ;), is John Cage's "4'33"
(Or, for those that don't like modern art, "Carry On" by fun. )

Picking Up Speed

It's been raining off and on all week here in Tucson. On Monday, there was record rainfall, and the medical school affiliated with the U of A in Phoenix actually completely shut down due to the weather. The governor declared an emergency because, as nobody plans for rain in the desert and rocks are hard, there is not much of a drainage system. The streets turned into rivers, events were cancelled, and it was one of the few times that there was nobody tabling on the Mall. It didn't matter whether or not a person wore a rain coat, had an umbrella, wore good shoes or absolutely nothing - there was no avoiding getting wet. I should know. I had to go cross campus multiple times to get to class. By the end of the day, since everything else was soaked, I was walking around in just shorts and a t-shirt.
And just about an hour ago, a nice quick rain shower interrupted the pep rally going on on University St. and it's still wet outside.
There's a beauty to Tucson after it rains, even though people complain about the humidity or the general wetness. You can finally see it without the dust and grime that accumulates over time, and with the strong sunlight that inevitably follows these monsoon rains, rainbows are very common and PREETTYY as anything.

After the rain, I went on a quest for jazz shoes for my Theater Dance class, because the only shoe/dance store within biking distance is only open on weekdays. Mission successful there.

The rest of the week has been pretty boring. There's been homework, a couple quizzes (easy), and a lot of studying going on. We're all kind of in the same boat with that right now, so that's kind of nice.

Also, last year's Rube Goldberg machine has been broken down and ravaged for parts. (That's the current president and president emeritus with some spare nuts and bolts.)

This year's machine - the current theme is The Modern Kitchen, which will allow us to create exploding blenders, speed-of-light toasters, self serving ovens, cats on Roombas, and the like.

Also, like last year, there was beautiful 9-11 tribute in front of the Administration building - a reminder of all the lives lost.

Anyway, that's been my week. This week's song of the week - "American Pie" by Don McLean - and this awesome town who did a lip dub to it - the entire thing.

Tucson in the Rain

There seems to be three approaches to Tucson in the rain. 
The first is wearing everything and hoping your skin stays dry. The second is wearing little and hoping you dry off quickly inside. As everything is still air conditioned, both methods leave you cold and wet. I tried both of those today.
The third is to stay home and hope to catch the notes online. This was the approach of about half the people in my classes.
(And indeed, the thunder was terrifying).
*from Facebook - first one in a while to reach the 10 like mark*

Here We Go Again

Two weeks have gone by faster than I expected. We're actually doing work in class, and extracurriculars have officially started.

A breakdown:

• I had my first physics lab - we did basic circuits. My TA does not object to people calling him "Hey, You!" because that is, in fact, his name - You.
• "The Brotherhood of Man" has been stuck in my head because we've been learning a dance to it in Theater Dance. By this point, I know how to mambo and grapevine, and I can almost touch my toes again.
• Vector Calc and Statics are both doing the exact same thing, still - resolving vectors into components. One professor seems more enthusiastic about it than the other.
• We've gone over some basic phonetics and the effects of migration patterns in my American Indian Languages Class.
• I'm on Hall Council this year - I got on the Executive board in a slightly ironic position. I'm also helping to design the Historic Haunted Dungeon this year - I'm super excited about that.
• We're going to take some hammers and drills to last year's Rube Goldberg machine tomorrow. We haven't decided what we're going to do this year, other than in the end, it has to shine a shoe.
• Sophie, my roommate, took me to the International Student Association's first meeting (she's an International Studies/Chinese major and didn't want to go alone). I met a bunch of Indian guys, a couple from China, and a Pole.
• Sophie and I also tried Zumba earlier today. She loved it, I'm not enthused. My hips can't lie - they don't move that way.
• I'm still hanging in there.

So, I'm holding up okay so far. It's been a good week, and things are actually starting to get interesting.

This week's song of the week - "Yellow" by Coldplay, for no other reason than it has been stuck in my head. I always think the guitar is trying to say "blue" in answer to the yellow.

First Week, Mark 2.0

School is back in session for me and for tens of thousands of fellow Wildcats. There was the usual pandemonium, including the free-crap-everywhere rushes, the I-can't-find-my-class 8-balls, the do-you want-to-take-a-survey evangelists, and, of course, the mad mob that follows anyone and everything promising free food.

My semester is going to be all about vectors. My physics, math, and statics courses all heavily rely on mathematical vectors, while my teacher in dance talks about body vectors. Hopefully the synergy  between these classes will help my GPA move in a positive direction by a large magnitude. So far, my classes are interesting. Most of my professors seem to at least speak English and know what they are talking about, which are always plusses. Vector calc promises to be a paradigm shift - it will take a little time for my brain to shift from thinking in two dimensions to thinking in three. Electricity and Magnetism is pretty basic so far - Coulomb's Law is as far as we've gotten. In Statics, we're basically just going over how to use vectors - nothing fancy yet. My non-major classes are American Indian Languages, which promises to be pretty low key but also pretty interesting (DYK - More than a third of all world languages used to be used exclusively in North America), and Theater Dance, where it is undeniable that the teacher has been a dancer her whole life.

Outside of school, I played my first game of Quidditch (a ground based version of the Harry Potter sport of the same name). I went to the first meeting of the semester of the Rube Goldberg club (we're shining shoes this year). I've met a lot of great people in my dorm. I have gone to church. I went to Comedy Corner's first show.

I have a roommate this year. Her name is Sophie, and we're getting along fantastically. She is very passionate about international relations and learning languages. She also loves Harry Potter, so we understand each other.

I'm looking forward to  going to the UNLV game tonight, and getting further along in my classes. I've met a bunch of new people, and this semester is going to be great.

Edit: And because I'm late, I'm giving you 2 songs of the week - my pump-up song "Fooling Yourself" by Styx
and, for the video, "The Writing's on the Wall" by Ok Go.

Some Updates

This is not a "how am I doing" post. This post pertains directly to the blog , how I'm going top be running it, and some changes I'm going to make this year.

First, and probably most importantly, I will do my very best to post an update on what is going on in my life sometime before 8:00 PM on FRIDAY. My Thursdays after class will probably be busier than I would like, and yes, sometimes I procrastinate on Friday's homework (I'm trying not to make that a habit, but it happens). So Friday's the day. Please do not bug me about blog posts before. Thank you.

Secondly, I want to publish more opinion pieces - posts that are not necessarily about me, but about how I see current issues. I tend to be somewhat indecisive. My New Year's Resolution was to fix that. This is my attempt. I will do my best to cite sources of anything that is not common knowledge (yes, I know Wikipedia, Buzzfeed, the Huffington Post, and the like are not reliable sources). Those will be coming whenever I feel like it, but about biweekly, depending on circumstances.

On that note, I would like to mention that it is possible to comment on any and all posts by going to the post's page by either clicking the title or clicking the link in the sidebar (you can't comment on the home page). You should be able to comment whether or not you have a Google account (although I do like knowing who you are). If you do, please keep it civil and on topic. Trolls will not be tolerated. That being said, I welcome all relevant input and constructive criticism.

Also, anything I post on Facebook that gets 10 likes or more will get posted here, no matter how short. Likewise, links to each new post will again be posted on Facebook. Since I am aware that most people who follow my blog do not follow me on Facebook, and most people who are on Facebook do not follow my blog, this should hopefully fix that.

Finally, there will be a song of the week for the purpose of making sure everyone gets the same song stuck in their head or can possibly help me figure out the kind of psychiatric care I obviously need (if you're into that).
This week's - "Obladi-Obladah" by the Beatles! You're very welcome.

As always, I appreciate all readership and welcome all input. Thanks for being loyal and sticking with Dragon Scales!

- G

What I Did Over Summer Vacation

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I apologize, but now, since I'm back in Tucson, I might as well get everyone caught up. (More on Tucson later.)

At the beginning of the summer, I got a ride back to California with a friend. I knew we were getting close to home when the signs started advertising  things like "Pacific Moving" or "Coastal Storage" and the occasional trees (with leaves) started showing up on the side of the road.

The first thing I did when I got home (besides deconstruct the Tetris puzzle that was the trunk of the car) was take a walk to the beach and stick my feet in the water. Then was when I knew I was really home.

I chilled the first few weeks back from school. I got myself reacquainted with the local library, the local street names, and the state of entropy that my room tends towards. Then, I started searching for a job - and found one.

At the beginning of June, I found myself working as a cashier at a beach hut/food truck called Baconmania with a bunch of Irish guys. Yes, we served everything with bacon. Yes, the food and the view were absolutely spectacular. Yes, we did laugh at any vegans who tried to figure out some thing they could order. It was a great experience, and I can now say I am a pro at wrapping things (artichoke hearts, dates, hot dogs, chorizo, mac n cheese...)in bacon. So I made a little money over the summer and new have a t-shirt that says "I ♥ BACON."

I also volunteered at my church's vacation bible school. I ended up having to corral 13 excited 3rd graders for a week (I did have help). That was a ton of fun, although the songs got stuck in my head for the next month or so. 

My mom started taking me to Irish dance classes at Celtic Gold, which has a completely different style of dance than Claddaugh, the dance school I went to until I was about 13. I met a bunch of great ladies and learned some new ceilis. I'm debating about whether or not I should do the set dance special at Oireachtas (the regional competition) since it's in Phoenix this year.

Along the way, I spent valuable time with my family - nuclear and extended - and got to relearn my hometown. It's strange how little things change just enough to make it feel weird to come back.

So, now I'm back in Tucson, the l;and of all beach and no ocean. I've spent the last week as part of the Hall Involvement Team (move-in crew) moving people in and going to leadership and school survival workshops. I've met a bunch of great people, and I'm really looking forward to starting school.

By Popular Demand...

Today I feel like a scarlet lady-
Very skinny and appeeling.
Oh my bright star, 
You have kissed me and given me bright feathery angel wings
As I ran to you.
I burn in the light of your affections.
You make me feel like I am falling apart,
But still, my body rejects
Your warm embrace. 
It hurts, it hurts to feel
What you make me feel,
And yet,
I cannot live without your presence.
And so, I've learned my lesson -
I'm not forgetting sunscreen again. 

Happy summer, everyone.

I'm Home!

WHEREAS I have played various iterations of Tetris in jamming my stuff into bags and bags into the back of cars,
WHEREAS said stuff has moved from a pile on the floor of my room to piles in my closet and on my desk,
WHEREAS I have been to the library and finished a book,
WHEREAS I have been to the beach, walked Main Street, stuck my feet in the water, run on the shore, and dunked,
WHEREAS jackets are no longer needed in 70 degree weather,
I officially declare myself returned and reacclimatized to my hometown.

Obligatory reflection on freshman year now commences:
I just finished my freshman year of school. It's been a ton of fun so far. I've met crazy people, done insane things, explored new horizons, and, of course, learned a lot. I know I have changed over the course of the year, and, though I can't say if I've been changed for the better, I have been changed... for good.

So, shout outs to (roughly in order of appearance) the random people I met at orientation, the HI Teamers, my roommates (and almost roommates), the Awesome Group, the Gilans, my English class, my Chem lab group, the Newmanites, the SWEsters, the Gila Monsters (VB and soccer teams), the Rube Goldberg club, both my Campus Renew groups, my Dungeons and Dragons group, and the random people I met in strange places who have become good friends (and anyone else I forgot). College has been a lot less scary because of the people I met.

On the other hand, there's something triumphant about coming home. As soon as I crossed the Colorado River, I saw green - not brownish green, not dusty green, not this-really-is-a-plant-believe-me green, but grass green of things that grow. Color is something about California that I have definitely missed.

And of course, it's awesome to see my family again. Weekly phone calls don't do justice to how much I've missed them. My brother is now taller than I am, my sister is doing all these cool things, and I've really missed my parents. Seeing how everyone has changed is a little weird, though.

In short, freshman year was an experience, it's weird that I'm a quarter of the way through college, and coming home is fantastic.

And as to the fate of this blog over the summer - I'm still going to post, maybe not as regularly, maybe more, but there will be new stuff up every once in a while. If I ever finish a story, it will get posted. If something absolutely amazing happens, it will get posted. If I get bored one day, something will be posted.
So thank you all for your love and support. I had no idea that this blog had the reach that it has.
Freshman year is over.
And so it goes.

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mothers in my life: I know you all read this, so...
I wouldn't be where I am today without my mom. I don't mean just literally (but yes, she did drive me to the good old U of A) but in every other way too. My mother was one of the people who instilled in me a love of books and stories. I remember she used to read to me every night and would explain unfamiliar words and concepts and make the stories come to life (at least until I got impatient and wanted to finish the books faster). She showed me how to be curious and trying new things, whether Irish Dance or some funky new recipe. Although she claims sometimes she's not the crafty one, she has shown me how to be creative. She's most known for her kick-ass gingerbread houses, but there is so much more to her. I have my mom to thank for letting me dabble in duct tape, play with fuzzy posters, and learn (a little) about how to cook.
The most important thing I've learned from my mom is how to be strong. There is, of course, the physically strong - she encouraged me to play sports and take up running, which I have never regretted. More importantly, though, she taught me to be mentally strong, to stick up for myself and others when I needed to, to be proactive in order to get where I wanted to go. I was never the most popular kid in school, and she was there for me when I needed someone to help me be strong.
And, I know you probably won't admit it, but you were (and still are) this mom:

You introduced me to Hermione Granger, Bilbo Baggins, and Han Solo and Princess Leia, along with Spock, Laura Ingalls, and Anne who became some of my best friends and role models growing up. You undeniably helped turn me into the nerd I am today. So, for all that, thank you, Mom.

Also, to Grandma - you've taught me that everything can be fun and colorful, and that the materials at hand can be used to make amazing things. You've also shown me how to be cheerful through the hardest situations. Your food is always amazingly good, and you were the first person to tell me that sometimes it was okay to have pie for breakfast. You helped me learn how to be respectful, but also how to have fun. Thank you, Grandma, for everything.

To Mum - you've always supported the artistic endeavors of all your grandkids and have been there to support us in so many ways. I see myself repeating you sometimes - although I don't necessarily read the Wall Street Journal, I am always on the lookout for interesting articles and new discoveries. I always enjoyed those birthday shopping trips, although I would go home exhausted afterwards. You've shown me that growing up doesn't necessarily mean getting older. You've been the one to hold the family together. So thank you, Mum.

To all the aunts, x cousins y-times removed, and other various family members - you have all shown me how to be my best, to do what I love, to stick up for myself, that it's okay to be silly and sassy, and that I do not have to be a carbon copy of my mom (no matter how many times I've been told I look like her) (no offense meant, Mom). You've been inspiration and counsel to me when I needed it, even if I didn't always ask.

To all other mother figures in my life (including but not limited to: teachers, coaches, neighbors, friends, etc.)- thanks for being there for me when I needed it and for teaching me so much.

And for all mother everywhere:    

Happy Mother's Day. I hope I can be forgiven for forgetting to send cards.

Interlude

Hey, all. So, as of 10:30 this morning, I just finished taking four tests in eighteen hours, so my brain is pretty fried. Life right now is mostly class and studying, so I'm gonna talk about something else. 

since I've started going to school, I've realized that there are a ton of things that can be used for more than you might think. For example- I've taken to making and wearing funky rubber band bracelets. Those are great for holding an ID when I go run. A pair of jeans ripped in the wrong place, and so now they stop my dorm room door from banging into the closet door. Hair ties hold together and organize flash cards (they don't rip them like rubber bands). Dryer sheets become air fresheners. And, of course, duct tape is used for just about everything, from actually fixing stuff to making the stuff we need. 

The cool thing is that, even though I live with mostly engineers, a lot of these ideas are not unique to them. Everyone is trying to save money or gas and uses things in a creative way in order to improve the quality of life. People tend to be more creative than they realize, even the ones who insist they aren't. It's amazing how people tend to make things work out a little easier for themselves and those coming afterward. Even better is that people help each other.

Yes, I am stressed about upcoming finals, but I am confident that everything will work out. I have a good support network and I know my stuff. 

(Also, for a final project, I'm designing a bike - and it's actually working!)

Almost

The semester is winding down, stress levels are driving up, and the heat here has started to become overbearing. I haven't worn actual shoes at all for the past week, and it's been beautiful.
This week is the week of finals that aren't - tests in almost every class that count, but aren't finals. I've got to be in two places at once for two of them. On the other hand, I've got a pretty cool final project going for my computer aided design class - I'm making a bicycle. I can't wait for everything to be over.

The weather here is becoming oppressive. It's been in the 80's all week, except when it rained, and it's been dry and awful for anyone with allergies. The cicadas haven't started buzzing yet, but you can still find birds nests around campus if you know where to look.

On Easter, I went to church in the morning, hung out with friends, and had dinner at Boston Market with some other people. It was nice and relaxing and not too taxing. 

Big news this week - Dave Franco and a few other guys from the movie Neighbors came to campus and blocked traffic for a few hours. I actually got a glimpse of them before they were sucked into a suffocating horde of screaming fan girls. The line for the pre-screening went out the door of the student union where the theater is and wrapped all the way around the building.

On Friday night, I participated in Relay for Life (a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society) with through Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers (I have a bunch of friends in that club), which was a phenomenal experience. I met a ton of great people and helped raise money both for ACS and for SHPE. Some people stayed all night until dawn, doing laps, talking, selling stuff, playing games. I didn't have the stamina and ended up going back to my dorm at 2AM.

Finally, I finally saw the Lego Movie. It was really cute, and any movie with Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, and Will Ferrel is a good movie in my book. One of the most entertaining things was seeing how characters in the Lego universe interpreted the objects they found from the full sized world, like "the blade of Exact-Zero." I would recommend it, although the basic plotline is horribly predictable.

Also, I've picked classes for next semester. I'm taking Electricity and Magnetism (which is supposed to be tough and never used again after the class), vector calculus (which, I've heard, can blow your mind), Statics (which I've heard is really fun or really hard), American Indian Languages (a Gen Ed which should be fun), and Spanish Literature (to finish up my minor). I'm considering adding beginning dance class to get me up in the mornings and get me moving, since most of my classes are in the afternoon and physical education classes do not exist. Either way, it will be another tough semester, but I'm looking forward to it.

I just have to keep telling myself that I'm almost there.

Rube Pictures

The vehicles (66+ hours of driving):

The Team

Dinner before building:

 Packing the Uhaul

 Mousetraps!!!

 Human Skeleton made of wire in COSI

University of Arizona machine:

Purdue Machine:

Washington St. Louis machine:

Penn State machine:

The room throughout the competition:

 

Awards:

 

Dinner on the way back

Rube Goldberg Competition

This past Thursday through Monday, I went on a rad trip to Ohio with 17 other awesome members of the UA Rube Goldberg Club to compete at the national Rube Goldberg Competition at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus. Here's what went down:

Wednesday afternoon: I pack and bring my stuff over to the Rube room in time to see the 15 passenger van and a truck with a trailer expertly maneuvered into the Civil Engineering courtyard (trust me, the alleyway in is tiny). I left my stuff and observed the broken-down machine for the last time until we hit Ohio.

Thursday morning: Time is 2:30 AM MST. I get up, get dressed, and down a bowl of cereal to use up the last of my milk. I grab apples out of the fridge as an attempt to preemptively counteract all the junk food we'll be eating, shove my snacks and some deodorant into a backpack, grab my water bottle, and walk over to Civil Engineering. I'm one of the first to arrive, but I when I get there, I see the club president wearing pajamas, socks with flip-flops, and a bright orange top hat. People start to trickle in, and someone brings donuts. We discuss the route we'll be taking, the driving schedule, and the mad hype that we're all feeling. I start out in the truck, which has more room, and once we're all loaded, we hit the road to begin the thirty hour cross country trek.
This truck, along with having all the normal road trip stuff like water and blankets in it, also has a few coils of wire, a package of BB's, and a 2-foot long Styrofoam cactus in it. The first hour or so is spent rocking out to Pit Bull, and after that, the two of us in the back try to sleep a little.

Thursday midday: At about 1:30 PM MST, we get to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We stop off at a Walmart near the freeway to pick up some walkie-talkies, batteries, and mousetraps. We eat lunch at the first of many MacDonald's at the Walmart. By this point, we've all shuffled vehicles and seats a few times and are mostly awake. The kid's meal toys are hoarded.
After that, it is my turn to copilot the truck, which means it is my job to keep the driver awake and to man the walkie-talkie. Along the way,  it is decided that the call name for the truck with the trailer is "Rattlesnake" and the van is "Mongoose."
After my shift, I go back to the van. We play the Question Game, stop off for dinner somewhere in Texas, and keep going.

Thursday night: Sleep - as best as possible with stops every four hours and no room.

Friday morning: We stop for breakfast at a Subway at a gas station in Missouri. And we keep going.

Friday afternoon: We get to the hotel in Ohio - finally - and unhook the trailer from the truck. It's about 2:30 local time, and we take about 45 minutes to shower and clean up. We change into team shirts and eat lunch at a diner that's right next to the hotel. The people working there seemed really surprised to see a bunch of ravenous college kids all requesting separate checks at that time.

Friday night: After eating, we hook up the trailer again and headed to COSI, where we unloaded the machine and start putting it back together. We're the first ones there. Turns out that the same weekend as the competition is a Girl Scout Camp-In at COSI, so we get in at about the same time as a bunch of neon shirted girls.
About an hour after we start putting stuff together, Purdue's team shows up. There machine is much easier to put together as theirs beaks into just two parts plus weights (ours has two walls, a 3-part floor, a ceiling, and a bunch of shelves, plus weights). We say hi and admire each other's machines.
The people running the competition had ordered pizza for us, so at about 8:00 PM local time, we stop and eat. The judges and Rube Goldberg's granddaughter show up, and we spend some time chatting and bragging about our 31-hour trip.
Eventually, Washington St. Louis shows up, and we help bring their stuff in. Their machine also only breaks into two parts, so they set it up quickly and help finish the pizza.
We run our machine once, decide most of the strings are too long, and work on the machine until we are kicked out. We then go back to the hotel and sleep - horizontally!

Saturday morning: The day of the competition has arrived! We get up early and eat breakfast at a Tim Horton's across the street from the hotel (apparently, those are a big deal) and get to the museum at 7AM to start fixing things and setting up some more. Penn State eventually comes in and gets everything set up on time. At this point, the museum isn't open yet, but the occasional groups of girl scouts and docents walk through and ask questions. All four teams are setting and running their machines. The clatter of marbles and mousetraps begins. The real crowds start coming through when the museum opens, and from then on, there are tons of people watching, admiring, and asking questions.

Saturday midday: Game time. "Rules" start at 11AM (only two people touching the machine and a total of six allowed around it), and the competition gets underway at 11:30. Before running the machines, teams get two minutes to explain them. The other teams just run through their steps, but we have a skit based on the adventures of the Sonny Waters Adventuring Guild (our machine's theme).  After some touches, Penn State and our team decide to void our first runs, while Washington's run was perfect. After 20 minutes to reset, the machines are run through again, and Purdue and Washington take their voids. We had our first perfect run at Nationals! Another twenty, and a third round.
Each of the machines got set and run a few more times before awards, and the crowds never went away.
Awards time - we all hold our breath. The overall winner and the legacy award go to Purdue, Washington St. Louis gets second, People's Choice, and Best Step for growing flowers, and we get Third.
This is Purdue's machine.  
This is an earlier version of Penn State's. (They cleaned it up a lot and added a dragon.)
I can't find a video of Washington's.

Saturday night: Afterwards, we travel to Ohio State to get dinner and do the touristy thing. The place where the team had gotten dinner last year had closed, and everything else was full because it was a game day (spring football or something. We got plenty of strange looks in our green shirts), so we end up at a bar at the student union. We go explore, find a glass 10 story library and whispering steps, and after walking around a lot, we head back to the hotel for a toast and the last horizontal non-squished sleep we'll get in a while.   

The way back: In St. Louis, we decide to detour because there are tornado warnings in Oklahoma. Instead of hitting tornado in Missouri and Oklahoma, we hit massive thunderstorms and traffic through Arkansas and Texas. Sleep was had, jams were played, stories were told, and a random spin-the-bottle app was laughed at. I spent the last stretch in the truck, helping one of the guys develop creatures for his fantasy novel (faceless shape shifters and hallucinogenic flowers, anyone?). We made it back to U of A at about 6:00 MST, unloaded, and went to sleep.

And that was what I did last weekend. (Pictures coming)

Catching Up

I have been busy, and a bit negligent about blog posts, so there's triple this week.

On the note of the Arizona Wisconsin basketball game and subsequent riots - There was free food at Park Student Union, so before the game I walked across campus to get some. I saw at least 10 police cars lined up between Old Main and the cow fence just outside of University Drive. I decided to walk back to my dorm and watch the game with people I actually knew, so I headed back to Gila after consuming some pretty good hot wings. I watched the game. The groans with the last shot could be heard all over campus and off it. There was shouting, you know, "U of A" and all, but nothing serious. I headed upstairs and played cards with my friends. About half an hour later, the sirens started, and they continued through the night. I was not in the streets, but I know people who were.
I walked University the next day and could see no lasting damage. Sure, there were a few stray beer bottles, a few tree branches were broken, but there was no lasting damage. The most distinctive sign of what had happened the night before was the white powdery streaks on the street in front of Gentle Ben's (a popular bar), presumably from the pepper balls. And that was that. It cleaned up very nicely.

What's going on with me - I got a perfect score on my last math test, so I'm pretty proud of that.
I've been working on homework, and my grades are looking better.
The Spring Break tours are still happening. It's kind of funny - you can tell the prospective students by the red folder they carry and the blank look on their faces. There are a ton - much more than any other time that I've seen.
I've got an MSE test tomorrow. Funny thing - my professor posted a study guide on April Fools Day with a link to "additional information." He totally rickrolled the entire class. What is rickrolling, you ask? Well, it's this trend that started on 4chan and some other programming boards. He basically did this.

Biggest news though - next week, I'm embarking on a 30 hour car trip with 17 other crazy people to compete at the national Rube Goldberg Competition at COSI in Columbus Ohio. A video of what the machine looks like can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPczsnDSdWU  (and yes, this is a real link). So, we're leaving early Thursday morning, taking a truck with the machine and a 15 passenger van, driving cross country, crashing for a few hours, setting up the machine, visiting COSI and Ohio State, competing and exhibiting the machine, crashing again, and then heading back in time for school on Tuesday. It's going to be so much fun - and of course, we're going to beat Purdue. I'm really looking forward to that.
I will take pictures, and, time and brain power permitting, I will post from the competition.

Other than that, it's been pretty boting. Lots of schoolwork, a little Dungeons and Dragons, some hanging with Clayton, and little time to chill. I'm still loving college and taking it all in stride.

What I did over Spring Break

I apologize, I've been negligent for the past few weeks.
So....
Two weeks ago was Spring Break.
I stayed on campus, mostly. I caught up on a couple of TV shows friends told me I was supposed to watch, got through the Divergent trilogy (that ending was harsh), ran a little, explored, and slept in.

That first weekend was the Tucson Festival of Books, which was huge. White tents full of established authors, publishers looking for the next big thing, food, science, and more covered the Mall from Old Main all the way up to McKale Center. I saw Lois Lowry plugging her new book, the guy who wrote Warm Bodies doing stand up, Bill Walsh (a copy editor from the Washington Post) explaining why "literally" should literally mean "literally", a really good high school steel drum band, and Maguire School of Irish Dance (brings back mixed memories). I also finally got some good frybread. I spent most of Saturday just exploring by myself and with Clayton. I also met his mom, who is really nice, and we went out to see Non-Stop, a pretty good Liam Neeson movie. Tons of fun.

The first few nights, I hung out with the few people who were left in the dorm. We watched "Community," a show about a totally unrealistic community college which was also Chevy Chase's comedic last stand, for a while. One night, we played a serious game of hide and seek, which covered the bottom corner of campus and was intense (don't worry, we stayed in pairs and every pair had to share a picture every few minutes). The real craziness started when someone inevitably broke out the Cards Against Humanity - which, as it says on the box, is a "card game for horrible people." Hilarity ensued. This is who was playing hide and seek:


On Thursday, I went camping with a friend's church group. It started off pretty badly - the people who drove us almost forgot the food (but didn't) and, going up the windy road to the campsite, I got barfed on by a motion sick dog named Sly. He wasn't very.
Anyway, camping was really fun. There were ten of us all together (plus two dogs), and I was the only one who wasn't usually part of the group, but that wasn't a problem. I went geocaching for the first time and found an ammo box full of rubber ducks, among other things. We played a lot of Catchphrase, Buzzword and Egyptian Rat Slap in our spare time. The food was really good - one of the guys made a killer beef roast over the fire. The cold wasn't too bad, the lake we were right next to was beautiful, and the dogs made everything funny. I had a great time, met a lot of new people, and came back smelling like dog and smoke.
We got back on Sunday, and I caught up on homework, and returned to school refreshed.

On the Riots after the Wisconsin Game...

I've been promising a good rant for a while, so here goes...

Last night, Nick Johnson missed a last second shot after a tightly contested Elite Eight basketball game between the Wildcats of the University of Arizona and the Badgers of the University of Wisconsin, leaving his team with a one point deficit and a loss. That was the end of a good game where both teams played their hearts out. It could have gone either way, but Wisconsin ended up winning.

Within the hour, near the University of Arizona campus there were sirens, helicopters, pepper balls, screams, shouts, ambulances. The automated text went out to avoid University Boulevard because of a large "unlawful gathering," but sirens could be heard on 6th Street and Speedway as well. Social media exploded with videos and pictures of people going crazy, and subsequently with ambulance-chaser lawyer requests to send videos for evidence of police brutality. The noise lasted until at least two in the morning.

The age-old question of what happens when you get a bunch of frustrated drunk people together in a small space was answered - pandemonium ensues.

There is something slightly ironic about riots in the United States - when we want something changed, nonviolence is the name of the game, when we are frustrated about laws and things that actually mean something, we go out with our signs and march, pass petitions, call legislators. When there is something there is no way we can change, when there is no impact at all on everyday life - that's when we riot. A quick Wikipedia search shows that a good number of major incidents of civil unrest have come as a result of sports, and it doesn't seem to matter who won or lost.

Don't get me wrong - sports are great. They can bring a community together, they give an excuse to celebrate, they're fun to watch and to play. The problem is when devotion to sport meets energy meets lack of self-control, and the excitement that comes from watching a good games comes to the streets, and all hell breaks loose. People seem to forget that stadiums are not bubbles, and that personal responsibility applies both inside and out.

The thing that bothers me most is that, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. Whoever won, won, whoever lost, lost, and whoever sold the tickets gets their money and everyone goes home and life goes on the next day. Overall, as Americans, we're pretty lucky that sports are one of the few things that incite people to riot. We've been looking at Venezuela in my Spanish class, where government corruption and lack of food cause people to take to the streets because that's the only way they can get their government to listen. Despite all the violence and crime, changes are being made, albeit slowly, to improve life for the average person. That is a valid reason to riot - there is no other way to get attention and it forces change. There are probably better ways, but they have more reason than a bunch of dumb college kids whining that their team lost.

Even scarier - there were a good number of people whose reaction to hearing about the riots was not "This is crazy, let's get out of here" but "F*** YEAH! Let's go join!" Facebook and Twitter were awash with selfies of people smiling with police in riot gear in the background. There's something not right about that.

See, we're lucky that we have the right to petition, to assemble, and to have our voices heard. There is something not right about doing going this crazy just on the account of a basketball game which was well played and refereed as fairly as humanly possible. There are much better more constructive ways to deal with frustration. Conclusion: people are crazy and stupid sometimes, but it all blows over in the morning.

Thanks for reading. Rant over. A catch up "what I did over spring break" entry will come soon.