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.