Pics of moi

So this is what I looked like before I came to Hope. I will try to edit this post later to show you readers my lack of hair and my nifty new Chesney hat.

Swimming and Dancing

Today was one of the first initiations into the swim team. We swam the channel connecting Lake Monitackwa (or whatever) to Lake Michigan. We started at one pier, dove in, swam the 50-100 yards across the freezing cold lake with the 2 foot waves, got out and stood on the other pier for a while. While over there we completed a few tradtions and did a cheer, then dove in and swam back. I think I froze my triceps on the way to, and shoulders on the way back.

Tomorrow, bright and early, is the camping trip. I don't know where we are going, but we are camping ON the beach in the wilderness. Sounds like a blast.

Tonight was the first meeting of the swing dance club. It was my first time actually doing swing dance, and I was told I am a natural (*hoorah!*). It is so much fun, I gave myself a blister and sore feet but I learned so much and had a blast. On my FIRST TIME, I learned the pendulum! (girl jumps, swings legs to one side, sits on your hip, repeat on other side, then straddles you, then you throw her up in the air and hold her there, way fun.) Katie: when I get home I will be able to dance with you! And MAYBE outshine you!
Dancing is a good excuse to put your arms around a very pretty girl, which seem to be in no short supply at Hope.
Ok, I have to get up at 7:15 tomorrow, so I will cease talking.

And the hardest part
Was letting go, not taking part
Was the hardest part

And the strangest thing
Was waiting for that bell to ring
It was the strangest start

I could feel it go down
Bittersweet, I could taste in my mouth
Silver lining the cloud
Oh and I
I wish that I could work it out

And the hardest part
Was letting go, not taking part
You really broke my heart

And I tried to s i n g
But I couldn’t think of anything
And that was the hardest part

I could feel it go down
You left the sweetest taste in my mouth
You're a silver lining the clouds
Oh and I
Oh and I
I wonder what it’s all about
I wonder what it’s all about

Everything I know is wrong
Everything I do, it's just comes undone
And everything is torn apart

Oh and it’s the part
That’s the hardest part
Yeah that’s the hardest part
That’s the hardest part

Week Deux, Done.

Today finished the last day of the second week of classes, and they are already pretty greuling. Last year at UC wasn't this hard (then again, I am taking harder courses, and more courses.)
Nothing interesting to say in the hidden section today. Sorry.
Aural Skills. It is an attendance grade and at 8:30 MW. Other than that, I practice about 10-20 mins the night before class with some classmates on my floor, and can sight read everything so far.
The Opus people are the most liberal people on campus. Which is why they are the artsy-poetry people. Oh well.
Keyboarding Skills: this one is MW 9:30, and we sit and learn new ways to play things, stretching our skills as pianists. Another kid on my floor is in this one, and it is kind of simplistic now, but working on the basics never hurt anyone. Homework is another extra hour or so a week during regular practice time.
I need to practice more.
Multivariable Calc 1: MWF 11-12, H 11-12:30 This is a very easy class right now. Later on it will get hard, but so far we have done vectors, and today started matricies. I skipped today. Quizzes every thursday, but they are easy so far.
I really wish I could re-do my schedule and re-do these first two weeks. I would have made it so I could do pull easily, I really wanted to do that. 3-4 hour practices every day, 12 hour practices saturdays. Then the oldest college tradition in America, a tug of war over the river.
Music Theory 1: MWF 12-1 This is a pain class. Not because it is easy (which it is) but because it is at lunch time. I do the homework for the next week while in class.
I played a new card game called phase 10 today. I lost.
Black Holes and General Relativity: MWF 1-2. This is the hardest class I have ever taken by far. The math is intense, the concepts are mind blowing, and I am the only person in the class who isn't a senior. I love it, but it takes SO much effort and time.
I really need to check how much money is in my account. I have been guessing lately, which is bad.
FYS: TH 4:30-5:30 The actual class is a cakewalk, but we have some project type things to do that will not be so fun time-wise.
I am hungry... Pop tarts were on sale, 89 cents for 8. I got 3.39 worth.
Jazz Lessons: T 9:30 Not sure about these yet. I will have to get a better feel for my teacher before I can decide. Right now, just the basics.
Play an ascending 7th chord on piano, every third, normal inversion, with your left hand. Start with CM7 because it is easy.
Jazz Combo: T: 11-12 This one is fun, although I have been to it once. We jam and learn songs as a group. A jazz quintet, doing some standards. Fun.
Then play with your right hand a second inversion 7th chord, starting on the five you just played
So those are my classes.
Then repeat the first one with your left hand an octave higher, then your right hand an octave higher.
Nuclear Group: T 10:30-11. 3 other hours during the week. We meet and discuss the progress we have made in a week on our research project. I am currently gain matching four photomultipliers on thin and thick scintilators so we can get some real analysis going. Pretty good, but hard to find time for.
If you do this all the way up to the higher registers, and you play even eighths, sixteenths, or triplets, it sounds like a wave.
TA: M 2-3, T 3-4:30 I TA a college physics lab. Easy, I get paid, and learn some more about physics labs in the process.
I want to use it when the Jazz combo plays Maiden Voyage (Herbie Hancock)
Opus: for the FYS we have to do 30 community service hours at some campus media. I want to do it all at OPUS because it rocks. This is the literary journal, (publishes poetry, short fiction, visual art, etc.) and we meet Thursday nights in the chapel basement in a small cramped room filled with old couches, and we read poetry, plan events, and drink tea. The 28th we are having an OPUS night at the nearby coffeehouse lemonjello's (leh-MON-je-lows, not LE mon JE llo with Bill Cosby). We are having guest readers, music, a short film, art being displayes, and then we are doing readings. I think I will try to edit the one I posted on the other blo and then read it and something else. Comments welcome.
I also want to learn how to do it descending, and with just the left hand. It isn't too hard and with a bit of practice I should be able to.
Dive Team: lots of hours starting the 24th. I am so excited to dive. I can't wait to be able to do the cool spins and flips. Yes it will be hard greuling work, but I get to help out the team, stay in shape, and learn awsome skills at the same time. Next year I will have to schedule well so I can do swim team also. Coach has me working up to 500 sit ups a day, with tons of stretching. Totally worth it.
I played Halo for the first time since getting here today. I did decent, but no domination like normal.
No free time, but free time is overrated anyways.
I have 1 gig of free storage left.
I now close with the customary lyrics, but what mood am I in tonite?
If I move all of my music out of My Documents, would that speed my computer up?
Her majesty’s a pretty nice girl
But she doesn’t have a lot to say
Her majesty’s a pretty nice girl
But she changes from day to day

I wanna tell her that I love her a lot
But I gotta get a bellyful of wine
Her majesty’s a pretty nice girl
Someday I’m gonna make her mine oh yeah
Someday I’m gonna make her mine


Wasn't that fun? Now let's try a non-silly song.


Ah, ah,

We come from the land of the ice and snow,

from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.

The hammer of the gods

Will drive our ships to new lands,

To fight the horde, singing and crying:

Valhalla, I am coming!

On we sweep with threshing oar,

Our only goal will be the western shore.

Ah, ah,

We come from the land of the ice and snow,

from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.

How soft your fields so green,

Can whisper tales of gore,

Of how we calmed the tides of war.

We are your overlords.

On we sweep with threshing oar,

Our only goal will be the western shore.

So now you’d better stop and rebuild all your ruins,

For peace and trust can win the day

Despite of all your losing.