End of the Semester: I LIVE

After recuperating from an all nighter to finish my design final and a several hour flight back home, I can update what happened recently. I also now remember how bad the wi-fi is at home:

My spatial dynamics final. Woodworking, though still injury inducing and probably bad for my health considering the solvents in my dorm, is surprisingly fun.

The prompt was:

1. 6 in. by 8 in. by 12 in box
2. Some type of personal content or meaning
3. Openings

Two of which kind of barely hit the mark, but hey I like it, my teacher liked it, it's all good. It looked a lot more boxy at the beginning. I think this was my seventh iteration?

Ahaha, some of the past models. Looking back gives me an aneurysm. 

We also had to give it a title, Nostalgia in my case. Take it how you will.

 I'll update with my drawing final next time.

Dio: It's Finals Week

So, if the title hasn't given it away yet, it's finals week, which means this is that last chance for me to see if I can get high passes in any of my subjects. Time to actually cover some academic topics.

1. Grading

I never explained this clearly, but grading at my school for the first semester of freshman year is strange. Since we're all making the transition from high school to college, and my school is known for its notorious workload, for the first semester, instead of receiving letter grades, we get High Pass, Pass, or No Pass. A high pass is equivalent to an A, a pass is a B-C, and a no pass is everything below that. Next semester we get letter grades like everyone else, which is something I'm worried about, but this semester we have what we call "pass/fail".

2. Finals

Now that we've covered grading, let's talk about finals. Finals here is very different from most other schools. Actually, exams here are very different from most other schools. Since my school operates under a very strict honor code (we are encouraged to self-report anything that we do that breaks the rules), most of our exams are take-home. This means we have a certain amount of time to finish them in any setting we want, whether it be in the privacy of our dorm room, under a tree outside, or at the library. Teachers also allow us to listen to music during the exam, as long as it doesn't break the honor code. It's quite nice, having teachers treat you like the responsible adults you soon will be.

3. The upcoming holiday schedule

So right after finals are the holidays. This also means that we won't be posting as often as we would normally, since we'll be busy meeting up with each other, having sleepovers, goofing off, doing a project at some company, learning R and VBA, etc. I'm assuming that we'll have more concrete information when we meet up again, and I guess one of us will post then.

See you all in 2016. Dio signing off.

Dot December?

120815

1.

One day more to end of lectures

One more week till final

Imma leaving after that

2.

I can't believe that the year is ending already.

It feels like I just graduated from high school.

3.

No snow yet. I doubt I'll ever see snow this semester.

4.
I really can't think of anything to write

Dio has decided to forgo the mission report style

Dio is going to complain about college life here.

1. Finals

Finals are coming up in about a week. Dio's last final is that Thursday, so after that Dio's going home. Dio has three finals: Chemistry, Probability and Statistics, and Computer Science, as well as a final portfolio to submit for freshman seminar. Dio is most apprehensive about chemistry, which brings me to my next point.

2. Chemistry

There is a chemistry prof here who makes the worst packets. And by worst, I mean worse than this:

To quote the most recent packet:

"Beyond its Tm, a crystalline polymer loses its polymeric physical properties at temperatures beyond Tm because the polymer is a liquid."

And this:

"The production of low density LDPE is possible using high pressure that results in considerable branching of the polymer that does not allow the polymer chains to pack tightly resulting in an open structure of low density a density that would allow the polymer to float on water."

All in all, I am very pleased by the amount of hard work and effort this chem prof puts into writing these packets.

3. Transportation

So Dio is taking a bus home. It's about a seven hour journey from downtown LA to Dio's hometown, which means that I will have to be on a bus with other humans for seven whole hours. I am looking forward to it. Really. (not)

This also means that I have to pack rather light, since too much luggage makes it hard to move things around. However, I have clothes, blankets, and pillows to bring home, and one trunk to put them all in. Time to squish things! Squishing things is fun.

This concludes Dio's report for the week. Signing off.

Blu: I Took Thanksgiving Off Because I Honor Every Holiday That I Don't Have To Go To School For With Laziness And A General Lack Of Movement But Now It Is Dead Week And I Do Find Myself Imagining That I Am Dead Much More Often What A Coincidence

Hey friends

I don't understand why I felt compelled to address everyone reading this as a friend. But to be honest if you are reading this, you probably know me personally.

Happy Dead Week! for me/fellow quarter system students (The rest of you will get there soon enough or you're there already I don't know)

There's a huge increase of events now and they all provide food and claim to destress you. There's too many events. At this point it's so easy not to study and just go to the events. I want to just go to the events.

There's a thing called the primal scream where people scream out their window at midnight. (It's Wikipedia official.) I don't know how true it is because we live far far away from the other freshman dorms/general housing. But there's still a couple people who do it. I empathize so much though.

Generally, I still feel like I'm missing out on things. Maybe it's how everyone's applying/applied/getting interviews for job related things and I don't know what I'm doing. Maybe it's pressure from parents. Maybe it's people saying nonsense about "connections" and "being a good reference" and "talk to me anytime in the future" at the ends of classes. Because no, I haven't been doing those things.

Phrases I Decided Were Important Enough To Write Down Throughout The Past Few Weeks

You can only bike through the quad during the night. Any other time and it's disappointing 

I like the walk through the rodin sculpture garden around dead weak because I feel like I empathize with the statues better

Get your work done on breaks. I'm looking at you thanksgiving break. 

Bluray is lame just get the normal dvd 

ex cs partner works at the media and microtexts center on Friday afternoons, parts of Sunday too 

I get upset every time a cool berkeley event comes on my facebook feed 

Every time the wifi disconnects it's like a passive aggressive reminder that I don't deserve to be in this university

Associations and pattern recognition don't translate well into people

(are we still doing this over winter break?)

120215 I'm not dead yet

120215

Sorry for missing the post for two times in a row.
I don't even know how that even happened.

What I can add captions?

 

I created three profile images to make up for other two entries ahahahah....

1.
I'm doing fine so far; there is only two weeks of school (and the final week) left till the winter break.
My plan is to re-learn Calculus 1 for the next semester, but I know that it won't be all that successful ahaha.

2.
If you knew that you have this genetically inherited condition with no cure that will kill you slowly and painfully with gradual loss in memory, what would you do?

I can't think of any other solution but to kill myself.

The cruel part of this is that you're born like this --there is no one to blame.
But the positive side of this is that you're prepared for end of your life; you would be able to live for the moment instead of worrying about the future since you have no future.

3.
How was your Thanksgiving?
I had an unforgettable Thanksgiving.

Too bad that I wasn't able to see my family.

4.
I feel like my handwriting is getting better. Everyone, except my mom, have bad handwriting in my family. My brother is the worst; I think there is no hope for improvement for him.

Dio Is Changing The Style In Which News Is Written On Mondays

Also, capitalization is probably wrong at least for one word in the title, but meh, who cares enough?

So, news.

One, as Dio posted last week, Dio's roommate left. Dio's new roommate is Dio's previous neighbor whose roommate is a pig. Therefore, since Dio's roommate left, and Dio's neighbor is a close friend, Dio is getting a new roommate! More updates as the situation progresses.

Next, Dio's finals are coming up, and Dio is avoiding them, so nothing on that for a while.

Third, Dio and friends made a trip to Little Tokyo this past Wednesday. Little Tokyo is amazing. There are anime stores, and food places, and Daiso. Daiso is heaven, okay. Don't judge.

Fourth, Dio wishes everyone a happy Thanksgiving, and hoped they remembered to scream worship to the Brown Stone Spire in time. For those who didn't, well, sucks to be you.

Dio signing off.

(psst the other people don't forget to post)

Rin: Iiiiit's Break Break Break Break

Huzzah, I'm vibrating with happiness right now because break has officially started!

Sort of, I just emailed in an essay for tomorrow. We had a trip to museum for Design that took away an entire Saturday when we could have been doing homework, so in return for half the class bombing that week's 3D class, Spatial, we get tomorrow off. I am wholly unapologetic for posting nearly a week late because this was inevitable.

Geting Lethargic

I'm not sure whether it's because of winter and lack of heat and sunlight, something I'm not use to living in for extended periods of time, or because my endurance is whittling away, but I've become less and less productive lately. My recent homework clearly hasn't been anything to be proud of during critiques and even this week I've staved off of work until now. Thank goodness it's break or else I'd have nothing to turn in. Aha... ha...

Break and Homework

On a more pleasant note, I'm actually excited for my final in drawing class. Basically cover a wall with 50 drawings of 18 x 24 or whatever amounts to the same surface area. Of course there's a topic, basically anything that ties into our previous homework. I think it'll look pretty impressive when put up.

I'd like to say I'm on track but honestly break is a big issue. I can't exactly bring charcoal, wood, and paints to New York... and all of my teachers expect two weeks of work when we get back. I'll have to figure something out or else. I kind of regret going out for so long, but family time right?

Chore Outing

Today was a surprisingly productive day. A friend of mine and I basically ran around Providence doing chores, most of which I've been leaving off for way too long. Things like gathering scrap wood, sawing them down, buying more supplies for Design and Spatial. Along the way my friend got a background check form for getting a job in Rhode Island. Being that I tagged along I thought why not and got one too.

 Thanks to the fact some stuff was fifteen minutes west, east, south, and over a freaking hill from the dorms we walked a total of five miles and forty-seven floors for the next four hours. It was a productive day. Though I always forget stuff so I'll probably go out again tomorrow.

Mission Report 6: Dio's Roommate Has Abandoned Dio

So, today's mission report will, instead of being the normal, dry mission report, will be formatted differently and will consist of Dio writing "long" paragraphs, partially because Dio is done with formatting. Dio has to do formatting for freshman seminar, and it is horrible. The professors don't go with MLA formatting, or APA formatting. It's their very own style. Moving on.

First, Dio's homework load is insane. Do not speak to Dio of homework. Actually, if you do, Dio will probably suffer a small mental breakdown and disappear. And just do not speak to any of us about homework. It's killer. Literally, sometimes. This leads to my second point.

Second, Dio's roommate is taking a year-long leave of absence for mental health reasons. Dio's roommate literally had a two week long hospital stay recently. Dio is saddened by Dio's roommate's disappearance, of course, but will have one person in a double for the rest of the year, which is rather nice. Also, Dio has a friend whose roommate is a sloth and a pig mixed into one human being, so Dio's friend is considering moving in instead.

Third, Dio really should be doing homework/classwork so as to sleep at a normal time tonight.

Dio signing off now.

Blu: My Titles Are Longer So I Win But I Am Posting This Late So Who Really Is The Winner Here? Certainly Not My Academic Life

Today's actually Friday for me.

Next week I've got all of break off for Thanksgiving. I've been waiting all quarter for this week. I'm happy it's here. I'm unhappy at the finals I've got.



today:
finish my CS homework, watch and write an email response to the plenary on Danielle Allen from Nov 16, read through sources for research paper on charitable giving and higher education

tomorrow:
go into the outside world, finish reading sources, look for more relevant sources, cantor tour?, football game sometime in between,  look at spec for the last CS homework

Sunday:
go outside again to somewhere fun, or look at more sources for research paper, do CS homework, revise Spanish final presentation

Monday:
Spanish ODA and WDA, finish CS homework, more work on paper

Tuesday and Wednesday:
finish CS homework, finish first draft of paper, memorize final presentation for Spanish, maybe study for CS final?



Sounds doable? No, not really. It'll happen.

Mission Report 5: Dio Has Grown Tired of Writing Long Titles And Would Like To Withdraw From the Competition, If There Was One

Mission Title: Weekly Report With Nothing Much To Say

Mission Date: 11/10/2015 - 11/15/2015

Personnel: Dio

Objective: Weekly report.

Itinerary: Two midterms/exams this weekend, since teachers allow for take-home exams. Hackathon that gave out free boba and goodies. The breaking of yet another water-bottle.

Inventory: Broken water-bottle caps (2), free t-shirt (1), boba (2), candy (many).

Difficulties encountered: Staying awake, staying hydrated.

Dio signing off.

Rin: Laundry Screw Ups

Last time I tried to do laundry I washed my comforter cover with my clothes. And almost caused the machine to break, whoops.

The load was too heavy to properly spin the water out in the washer, so I moved several pounds of water logged laundry into the dryer. At least it beats the time I walked up three flights of stairs with a load of wet laundry, trying to find an empty dryer.

On the other hand I used the washer twice, one to wash and one to rinse out the suds that didn't get properly washed out. And the dryer thrice after the first time didn't work with a big load so I divided it into two machines. In the end I paid $7.50 for one laundry day.

Fridays are relaxing because I get the chance to clean up my room. Normally I would never say that, but a week of cutting paper, hot gluing dowels, and working with charcoal makes my side of the room pretty messy. Of course I could work in rooms made to be worked in, but that's three floors down and I'm too lazy to take my stuff up and down stairs. Now there's a large charcoal stain on the tile where I always work. I'll clean it at the end of the year.

One of my friends also has a messy room and, the other day, stepped on a piece of wire. She had to use tweezers to pull an inch of it out of her foot, Jesus. The next day I saw a red stain at the bottom of my foot. It was just some red pastel I stepped on, haha... I always worry the wire I cut will snap back and scratch my eye. It's gotten pretty close.

Blu: Okay I Think I've Screwed Up My Timing I Think But I Am Not Completely Sure I Don't Even Remember What I Did Last Thursday And I Don't Mean That In A Cool Way

College. Am I right?


There's a bus system that goes around campus that is so easy to hate on. But it did get us (roommate and I) to the right place.

Maybe it's just the app for the Marguerite that sucks.

The app is the worst.






Last Friday was Frosh Formal. The theme was Boogie on the Bayou. I still don't know what a bayou it or if a boogie is a type of dance? is it a more free form dance? is there more structure? is it even a type of movement? is it short for something? My impression of Frosh Formal was that it's like a high school dance but now it's college. So it is different. Clearly different.
It's one of those "it only happens once in the four years you're at this school so you better go for the experience" events. It's one of those "you all will dress up and it will be classy" times. It's one of those "just go it will be so much fun" happenings.

It also took place in the nearby gym on west campus.
The one in walking distance of our dorm and one of the only buildings on campus in walking distance of our dorm.
Which is useful because biking in a dress sounds like such a terrible, uncomfortable idea.








So roommate and I decided to go to downtown Palo Alto coincidentally on the same night. And we took the Marguerite for the first time.

I can't spell Marguerite. All of this was made possible by spell check. Help.

We took the SE line through the medical area to the Palo Alto transit stop. 

We huddled along the small street lined with little shops and trees wrapped in yellow lights.

I ate cookies and cream. She ate hella nutella with coconut. Ice cream in a waffle cone.

And then we watched "A Connecticut Yankee" with a bunch of old people in a proper theater. By that I mean there was an organist playing happy interim music that opened the movie. The theater had curtains the drew apart and architecture with style. 

I would so recommend this movie. It's about a guy who gets hit by armor and gets transported back to the time of King Arthur. It's also from the thirties. It's got good one-liners. What's not to like?

Taking the Marguerite back, on the N line. The bus driver randomly left both of us, mumbled something about another driving coming, and left. We could have driven off with the bus. We talked about driving off with the bus. We missed a golden opportunity.  

I'm sorry most of these "sentences" are not real sentences. I acknowledge that I'm not at that level of writing in which I can screw with grammar. I get that it just makes me look very unintelligent. English hard.

Dot: I'm still on time since the blog follows PST

[111015]

Since I don't have any interesting events to share today, this post will be collection of small news.

1. Mouse?
Today, my roommate saw a mouse in our room. I was not surprised.

2. Library
Library is always full of people. I think the school should expand the library; I know Harvard had to kept on digging underground for more space because they couldn't rebuild the facility due to some regulation. We should do that, too.
Our library has such a terrible floor plan as a library. I like high ceilings, but it is terrible idea for a library because the sound echos. The noise from first floor travels all the way to fourth floor.

3. Group project
In psychology, the scholars use the term 'social loafing' to describe group project.
They say this happens less so in a collectivist culture, but, as a person from so called collectivist countries, I can tell you that it is not true at all. This is why I feel like psychology is somewhat bull shit and creates prejudice.

Zay: For a change...

Hello!

This is Zay, just the plain old, human Zay. I've decided to toss my typical university structure aside for a while and see where this takes me. I'm not sure how to begin. It's actually quite terrifying.

It's important to note that this feeling of terror is not entirely harmful. Terror is just a word and the feeling of terror is, similarly, just an experience. People don't generally go their whole lives haunted by a word; similarly, people should not generally go their whole lives afraid of an experience. After all, in the end, words are all we have in sentences; experiences are all we have in life. We may decorate our life with punctuations and talk, but our substance is in our experiences.

It is okay to feel terrified.

In the few months that I have attended college, I have had a lot of, personally, terrifying experiences and it has been all the more terrifying because I instigated them. Nothing that I have done has been life threatening and I would never casually recommend partaking in life threatening risks. However, in the moment, they definitely felt world ending.

Just to keep an ongoing list, as I do plan to keep this trend of taking risks going, I'll list a few:

I chose to attend UC Berkeley.
Grade deflation, huge class sizes, actual work loads, and diversity of people/opinions/living styles galore.

I chose CS.
Not sure, yet, if CS will chose me too.

I attempted to be extremely social.
"Attempted" because now I have realized that interacting with people, in the most generic sense of the word, takes a lower priority on my list of values than learning does. It's really all about personal preference and balance. Through, basically, throwing myself off my, perceived, deep end of social interaction, I have been able to strike a balancing line between how much social interaction and how much alone time I need.

I asked someone out.
Yup. I, Zay, asked someone out for the first time in my life. I was rejected. So...that happened.

I decided to write this post.
It's definitely a huge information leak, a personal security breach, and way outside my comfort zone, but I needed this to be honest.

That concludes my list, and my post, for now.
Until next time.

Bye!

Mission Report 4: Dio Senses Blu Trying to Start "The Longest Title" Competition And So Will Play Along, Willingly, Every Time, But Does Not Know Who Will Win; Also, Dio Posted This Right Before Lecture

Mission Title: Much Ado About Midterms

Mission Date: Sometime in the recent past

Personnel: Dio

Objective: Midterms, Round 2.5 are over. Midterms Round 3 coming up, as well as a hackathon. Good luck to Dio, surviving (hopefully) the next two weeks.

Itinerary: Midterm. Sleep. Homework. Midterm. Oh dear, Dio is getting a cold. Midterm. Illness + homework + tea. Copious amounts of tea.

Inventory: Copious amounts of tea.

Difficulties encountered: Expending effort to write this.

Dio signing off.

Rin: Color Swatches

Howdy!

MAN, I was a miserable, depressing can of jello last week!

Especially after panicking for an entire week about color swatches. And the following week, too. I guess stuff like that just happens. I was getting way too anxious about being unable to reach my teacher's standards of making perfect, brush stroke free color swatches and using so much expensive designer gouache paint (a three inch tube of Brilliant Yellow was a lovely $17), so I didn't work on it as much as I should have. But hey, at least we got another week to work on it. Seriously though, if that happens to you guys talk to family. Even if it doesn't change the facts, talking about it out loud makes you realize how much you're blowing up the situation. And yeah, parents always seem to know what to say...

Lovely, lovely color swatches. So fucking proud.

On another note, I realized caffeine is the key to productivity. It is my fuel. And now I have a headache from too much tea. If I can overdose on two tea bags, you could imagine what coffee does to me.

Blu: It's Getting Cold And Biking Is A Pain But Not The "I'm Getting Stronger" Kind Of Pain, Rather The "Nature Is Too Powerful I Can't Control Anything" Pain (That Sounds AP English-esque)

I'm still finding my purpose.

Why am I writing these posts?

Maybe when I figure that out for me, the purpose will come clearer to me. 

Compared to the others here, I honestly feel like I've got the easiest college life. 

I mean, I post pretty consistently and I haven't gone too abstract (if those two things are any indication of sanity).

The quarter is almost over and I'm so glad. Maybe I shouldn't have taken 17 units. Maybe I would have thought similarly if I had taken 12 units. I don't know.

I'll be taking things from my notes app now. This might get disjointed.

Correction Frames

French toast for breakfast at Stern

Don't let school possess you, take control of school

Check: phone, ID card, keys, bike light

Library book checkout is 1. unlimited 2. for 4 weeks 3. returnable at any library

Library computers print for free not anymore, $0.10 a page :(

Do laundry on weekdays/early in the morning

Do things early in the morning to avoid people

Take a wild card class every quarter

Thinking of a major? Physically go to that department building

You can try to herd the hares/frogs. It's okay; it's dark outside.

No you cannot browse the movie collection. Write the call number on a piece of paper and give it to the nice person at the desk.

I've not added things to this list. A bit more on the negatives list, I suppose. Either that or I've not been exploring around the campus lately, which is also true. 

Evidently, I can't write properly anymore either. So many needed and unnecessary words. 

Dot: Since I have time to spare

[110415]

I'm a day late again. My apology.

Bathroom:

There are two types of dorms: traditional and suite/ apartment style. Traditional style is a typical dorm that you can think of - a single room with nothing but beds and desks with a common bathroom for the whole floor. Suite style, on the other hand, is like an apartment - there are two rooms usually and a common area with a common bathroom for the suite. I live in the traditional dorm right now, so I'll only talk about that one.

Our bathroom consists of following:
Three toilets
Four sinks
Four showers (but forth one is altered ver. for disability use)

Sinks:
They are usually in acceptable shape but some times people do their dishes there and leave whatever that was on the plate on the sink. Tragic, very tragic

Hair:
Both sinks and showers suffer from this. Some people simple leave right after cleaning themselves. It gets quite disgusting. I don't want to see whatever parts from other people's body. Why are they doing this to other people, I wonder.

Shower:
Some people play music while taking shower which I found interesting.

There are three options you can take.
1. One in far inside which gives you more privacy but the water pressure is shit and you're right next to window (not transparent) and the wind is seeping in.
2. One in the middle which gives you more warmth but the water pressure is still shit.
3. You're right next to the sinks, but it has best water pressure and warmth.

Which one appeals to you?

A lesson that I learned in college is that you have to give up privacy for some comforts.

Mission Report 3: Dio, for the first time in a long time, is on time

Mission Title: Introduction to Night Vale

Mission Date: 10/22/2015 - present

Personnel: Dio, friend KYC, friend SEA, friend CGP, friend C

Objective: Introducing Dio and friend SEA to a small desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead as they all pretend to sleep.

Itinerary: No specific itinerary. Sporadic stretches where Night Vale was commonly heard, five or six episodes at a time, then nothing, then Night Vale again.

Inventory: A bloodstone circle. Librarians. The flesh-eating summer-reading bacteria.

Difficulties encountered: Staying awake through twenty-something minutes of CGP's sonorous voice.

Mission Findings: STAY AWAY FROM THE DOG PARK. Librarians are deadly. Do not approach. If you have troubles, consider the Brown Stone Spire. The Whispering Forest is more than it seems.

Summary: Goodnight, Night Vale. Goodnight.

Today's proverb: If you don't see Night Vale everywhere after you start, then you might as well start again. And again.


Mission Title: Brief Description of Midterms

Mission Date: 10/5/2015 - 11/5/2015

Personnel: Dio, teacher-enemies

Objective: Passing midterms. And surviving them.

Itinerary: One midterm after the other. One day Dio will fall to them, but... this is not that day.

Inventory: Textbooks. Paper (lots). Pencil and pencil lead. Victims. Suffering.

Difficulties encountered: Surviving. Though, as Dio has put pen to paper (in a metaphorical sense), Dio has, obviously, survived.

Mission Findings: Please, not more.

Summary: Midterms. Five. Death.


Mission Title: Integrating Dio Into Modern Pop Culture

Mission Date: 9/1/2015 - ongoing

Personnel: Dio, friend KYC, friend SEA, friend LZ, friend PS, friend CMS

Objective: Introducing Dio and friend LZ to modern pop culture elements, e.g. BOTFA, the LOTR extended editions

Itinerary: Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday late afternoon, every week. One movie a day.

Inventory: Speakers. Laptop. Popcorn. Couch.

Difficulties encountered: (should i really start posting memes here) A strange, pulling feeling in the empty hole where my so-called heart used to exist, a long time ago.

Mission Findings: Tony Stark is a russet potato, flying above the clouds. Thor is Pikachu. Steve Rogers is a Cinnamon Roll. Thorin calls Thranduil "English pig-dog". Boromir: "Tis just a flesh wound!". Frodo is rather silly at times. Making Sam cry is like kicking a puppy, hard. No one listens to Elrond, so he decided to pass into the West and is now the Red Skull, aka "evil elf-daddy" (quote from friend PS, who came up with a lot more of these as well). Tumblr will destroy lives.

Summary: Do not Tumblr if you value that thing you call a heart.

Blu: You Know Y'all Can Change The Post Date And Lie About When You Published A Post To Pretend You've Got Your Life Together

I'm going to look at my calendar for the past week and describe the events there. For my own sake and my intense fear of missing out, I am just not going dwell on the times where I planned to go be social and decided to stay in my room.

10.22
I went to a lunch/informal talk thing for the a^3c because free food and I've got to save up on those meal swipes. It occurs weekly so this wasn't incredibly out of the ordinary. It's located in kind of a lounge room with couches lining the sides. Most of the talks center around general life tips. This one was on handling stress, the upside-down u-shaped graph of stress vs. functionality/productivity, the trend of students vacuuming/doing laundry/deep cleaning their rooms in midterm and finals times, the available resources on campus, the procrastination in other forms like ignoring your problems with going to parties or just out a lot/finding love interests/excessively checking social media/writing blog posts.

10.23
San Francisco symphony: learned that Sibelius is a music writing program as well as an old guy who wrote music! and that it is socially valid for my roommate to describe cheese as having a nutty flavor. So all in all it was thrilling.

10.27
CS midterm had me worried for days.
I don't know what else to say about it other than I wrote something down for every question. Oh! (more like big O am i right? no im sorry) Common question: The test is in a written format so there's roughly half the questions which are code tracing and the other half is writing the code with all those brackets and semicolons. It was two hours long and when I walked outside the sky was dark and the ground was wet. At first, I thought the sprinklers went crazy, but it was just the sky.

Rin: It's Been a While, It Feels. Some Darker and Lighter Matters

I wish I could get more in depth but I always seem too busy to really remember the interesting stories. Sometimes I look at the calendar and think will this ever end? I realize that's not the best mentality, but the onslaught of class, homework, sleep, has left me exhausted and my patience to wait out this first year of purposely stressful workload given by the school has been diminishing logarithmically.

Sleep is a precious commodity and the stress really appears on all of my classmate's faces. That's not to say I can't survive this year, though two of my classmates have already dropped out after being either unable to adjust to a too unfamiliar, too rigorous school and social life or missing one too many classes for medical reasons. Miss two classes of one subject? Be prepared to take it over the summer. Foundation year is a necessity.

I think I'm improving at least? I just have to hold out for spring semester, when new classes begin and teachers supposedly drive their students a smidgen less harder. Until mid-December, I will count down the days until this slow and undulating time of misery ends. 

-------

On a more lighthearted note, sleeping in class takes skill in a studio. You'll always be sitting in a stool, meaning there's no backrest to lean against. Sometimes you'll see people sitting on the ground, leaning against table legs with their eyes closed during work time. Or watch their eyes fall closed and pop open as they try to stay awake in critiques. Spatial is especially interesting, mostly because that's the class people stay up the latest for and also the fact the stools and tables are of the same height. Really inconvenient for working. Today I fell asleep (despite sleeping at a respectable 1 A.M. last night) for maybe half an hour during work time, behind on stool, head on table, and back bent a good 90°.

Perhaps I'll draw a comic about this later.

Zay: College is Insane

Status Quo


♢ Professor Ostrakon, according to various testimonials from other ex-Professors and some exiled GSIs, has last been seen crossing the border into dangerous territories. Her contract is currently undergoing review.

♢ Professor Jerk's name change request to Professor Aesthetic-Eyebrows has been denied. Professor Jerk is currently applying for a repeal.


The Titanic 61A

 "All the knowledge in the world cannot help you when you feel yourself sinking."



Mathematical Poetry 54

HW #15 (continued)
continued to be in a deep trance
emotions swirling in the depth
to be here, to be now - price less
transformations - endless
I want to know all that there is
and then send it all back
there are endless rooms
lined down a hallway
it never ends - never escaping tunnel
but, sometimes, it feels so close
and that's when you know
your life has been no lie

Paperwork 1: Extension

<user:Dio has submitted an extension for title:Mission Report 3 10/27/2015 14:43>

<extension paperwork received 10/27/2015 15:02>

<extension granted 10/27/2015 16:30>

Dot: labs will kill me one day

[102715]

I'm not late today because I'm procrastinating on studying for bio exam hahaha.

I have two labs: chem and bio. And both of them are pain in the ass.

Chem:
 Chem lab isn't as painful as bio in terms of workloads and the TA is nice enough to deal with bunch of stupid freshmen (including me) with patience. The issue with chem lab lies on my inability to pay attention to surrounding. Whenever we work with fire, I always end up burning myself. I can't even complain about this because this is all because of my fault. I don't know why I do this to myself. Last time, I grabbed a tube that was just removed from fire. Of course, I got blisters. Even though I put extra effort and time so I do everything correctly and not break anything, I can't help but to screw up on something. I feel like I'll end up hurting myself in the lab (well, I already burned myself).

Hahahhahaha. Well, I'm just born this way.

Bio:
Source of my pain.
The TA is bit of an ass, but it is OK because this feeling is mutual.
Amount of workload is the reason why I cannot bare with this class. We have to take a quiz before and after lab about something that we didn't even cover in the lab and fill out the lab report that is ridiculously long compared to chem report. There is also an outside assignment for the days without bio lab. Why can't they just let us go for once.

Blu: I'm More Confused Than Usual And No One Is Posting On The Proper Day So Is It My Turn To Write Something? Probably

It's week 5. So really it's almost about half way done.Wow I can't wait for winter quarter. It will be okay.

There are 2 rough drafts, 1 essay revision, midterm practice, plenary vid, cs hw 4
midterms now.  I did poorly on my Spanish midterm, my first midterm, I can feel it. What a poor start. I've come to terms with it for now though.
And so nothing is going to plan. I went to the library and it was unproductive.
I've made my bed at least.
an executive decision like I am in control of my life. like an adult you know
to slack off. (or SLAC off haha. I've not been to SLAC yet because of the work I need to do)

Hope everyone else's
day is going
well! sincerely well

Dot: whulp two days late

[102215]

I just remembered that I forgot about posting this.
Sorry about this - just life hitting me hard.
I'm even reusing the image.

Gym:

Thanks to the friends who are more diligent than I am, I'm kind of exercising these days. The odd thing about the gym here is that ground floor is locker room and cafe while second and third levels are actual gym. The building is structured in such way that allows those who are exercising to observe whatever people are doing on ground level. I wonder what is the purpose of this.

The air conditioner is out for now in the gym so there is no way to cool off except for standing right in front of the huge fans. Not only that, but the place smells like sweat, making me not want to go there. But I try to force myself to get some exercise so I can be more energetic. Sadly, I don't think this is effective, yet.

Gnats:

There are various reasons why I want to live in single room next time; gnat is one of them.

One of my roommate always eats breakfast inside the dorm before leaving for the 8 AM class. Not only the whole room smells like it, the leftovers attract gnats. I don't get why my roommate would not empty the trash basket quick enough to prevent this unfortunate situation. Now the trash can is infested with gnat and I don't even know what to do.

My roommates need serious help in keeping their space clean - both of them. I'm not their mother; I don't want to nag about freakin trash basket colonized by gnats or leaving stuffs on the ground, etc, etc.

I can also complain about the other roommate, but that's a story for next time.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Rin: Winter Dryness

After coming to New England questions like "what's your favorite season" makes so much more sense. When I was young it was either summer because summer break or winter because hey no bugs. But here on the east coast winter and fall are actually different. Weird.

Unfortunately that also means getting used to an actual range of temperature of 0°F to 100°F. How is zero degree weather possible. Getting use to it isn't that hard, it's the several nosebleeds every few days that are annoying. They take a while to heal, so I can only sit there thinking about all of the work I could be doing.  Heaters make the air dry and I've always been pretty terrible at dealing with arid air. I would sit down doing work and then blood appears. At least I haven't bled on any homework yet.

On a second note, Plasticine is actually fun to mold with and feels soft and buttery. Still annoyingly smelly though.

Zay: College is Insane

How to be a Jerk 162A
Professor Jerk is currently applying for a name change. Time will tell whether or not his application shall be approved.

Special Announcement
Hi, Professor Zay here. I regret to inform you that all of our professors called in heartsick this past Friday. Please excuse this short and untimely notice; no one was emotionally available to make the announcement.

Mission Report 2: Dio is Late, Again

Mission Summary: Dio has spent the last week, being late to everything. It's a side effect of fall break.

Mission report ends here.

Rin: Midterms

Surprisingly once you get into the flow, working constantly isn't so hellish after all. Still depressing if you stop working and think about your doing with your life though. I think I should start scheduling these posts so it actually comes out on time, ha ha...

Right now I'm working on a few drawings: a technical one, an atmosphere one and a collage.

Midterms so far isn't unmanageable as long as you use your weekends to finish a class's worth of work. Besides a couple extra essays and slightly more intimidating projects its been pretty much the same all around. 

I think the "Lite 'N Foamy" soap my school stocks up on scents your hands more than it cleans it of charcoal and Plasticine. Plasticine clay is a vile thing. Teachers love it because it never dries and supposedly molds well. Do you know why it never dries? Because it has diesel oil. Thus, your hands smell pretty strong afterwards. Even if you try scrubbing it out of your fingernails the scent will inevitably stay on your skin for a few days.

Well, it's getting really late and my fingers are tender from charcoal smudging and wire bending. Ta ta for now!

Blu: I Don't Get The Purpose Of This Blog And I Never Know What To Write About Disorderly Words Everywhere I Just Want Consistency

Ever since getting here (which has been about 5 weeks now), I've yet to sleep in past 8am. It's not that it's loud; It just feels incredibly uncomfortable to try to go back to sleep again. Watching the sunrise is quite nice, but it doesn't make up for the sleep deprivation. I remedy it with random naps. Naps are dangerous though; when you wake, you don't know what time is. It's disorientating.

Being up early does give you the chance to eat breakfast everyday. I'd been on a quest to find which dinning hall serves french toast. I just found that Stern serves french toast yesterday (although the menu keeps changing so I can't count on eating it again) (also Stern is about 10 minutes biking away, so like the normal trip going from home to Leland) and that was easily the highlight of my week. I've got to say breakfast it so great when you don't have to wake up early to prepare it for yourself.

In the ESF (education as self-fashioning) class, we've just read parts of Marcus Aurelius' book, Meditations, which was repetitive (good for my poor reading comprehension). He talked a lot about being okay about death; how, yes, people are annoying and wrong, but it's okay you are going to die sooner or later; how everyone is one with the community, law, universe; how people should stop wandering in the minds of others; how you should be an ever-flowing spring and not standing water. It's an odd book. Some of the advice is valid. Some is problematic (what a common college buzz word!). I should stop wandering.

I should create a resume but I don't know where to start. I should finish up the second draft on Newman's idea of a liberal education. I should code at least one of the five recursion problems due Monday. I should watch and email the answers of the questions on the ESF plenary I missed. I should read the parts of The Book of the Courtier, the article on it, and watch the film on Raphael that were assigned yesterday.

I certainly usually feel like I'm behind on something or that I'm concentrating on the wrong topics.


This was all just one contemplative complaint. I realize it's very contentless. Maybe heavily interpret it?

Or better yet, tell me what to write about!

Dot: I'm not dead yet

[101415]

- Sorry for late update I remembered about this around 12:30 AM today hrurhurhur

Food:

There are three options when it comes to food here: go to dinning hall, use your dinning dollar, look for restaurants.

There are three dinning halls here, but I usually don't go to one of them because it is simply too far from everything. Also, even though the hall claims itself as international dinning hall, there is nothing really international about except for noodles. The other two are called East and West; while East has more food options, West offers stir-fry which is very popular among the students and has long waiting line. Not only that, West opens late and closes early (it opens at 2 PM on Sundays, yea who cares about breakfast or lunch before two). Naturally, East dinning hall is popular choice around students.

They seem to change the menu everyday, but all of them feels like the same thing for me. In East hall, they have pizza/ pasta station, subway-style sandwich station, burger station, put-everything-in-and-fry-them station, salad bar, and thanksgiving-dinner style food station. They have horrible pasta (the sauce is fine but the pasta is inedible) but the rest are fine. Fine as in they are not fantastic but they are not shitty either. Amazing thing about East hall is that they have Coco-puffs cereal - having it as breakfast makes your morning better.

The best part about the dinning halls would be the desserts. Not only they have traditional stuffs such as cookies and brownies, they also have soft ice-cream machines. The flavors can be rated as following (vanilla is default) : chocolate espresso > strawberry > maple syrup > lemon custard > orange cream. Today, I tried adding chocolate espresso + vanilla swirl in to black coffee (I can't guarantee that it is black coffee but the color was black). Despite the disapproval of my friends, it actually tasted fine. I don't usually drink coffee because it is too bitter, but adding ice-cream kind of produced the same result as adding cream, sugar, and milk at the same time. Only downside is that mixing hot coffee and cold ice-cream makes lukewarm mixture.

I recommend trying this method if you're fine with drinking lukewarm coffee.

Dinning dollar can be used for in-campus cafe, fast-food, and stores. Personally speaking, going to the dinning hall is better since you have to use all the dinning passes you have left within a week. To be honest, if you're like me and don't eat breakfast on days without 8 AM classes, 15 dinning passes are more than enough. In our campus, you can exchange up to 3 passes with points that could be used to purchase foods such as yogurts, chips, and whatnot.

Unless your campus is located in middle of nowhere, there bound to be restaurants near by. I have quite a number around me and my friend group would go to one of those places either on Saturdays or Fridays - it became some kind of tradition.

Mission Report No.1: Career Fairs

Mission Title: Surviving a Career Fair

Mission Date: 10/8/2015 - 10/9/2015

Personnel: Dio, friend KYC, friend LZ, friend PS, friend CMS, acquaintance BH, acquaintance SEA

Objective: Look nice, hand out resumes to targets while maintaining the friendly facade, and obtaining the articles described in "Inventory" below.

Itinerary:
10/8/2015
- 1200 hours: Returned to base. Changed into civilian attire more appropriate for the mission.
- 1215 hours: Arrived at lecture hall. Listened to civilian extrapolate on the Nobel Physics Prize.
- 1300 hours: Arrived at location. Began to interact with targets and hand out resumes.
- 1400 hours: Left after scoping out the area and obtaining certain items.

10/9/2015
- 1000 hours: Returned to base. Changed into civilian attire more appropriate for the second day of the mission.
- 1015 hours: Arrived on location. Interacted with targets and handed out more resumes. Obtained items listed in Inventory.
- 1130 hours: Left location. Mission successful.

Inventory: Facebook post-it note pad (1), Facebook Bun stickers (1), notebook (4), black pen (7), laser pen (1), eos lip balm (1), sunglasses (3), t-shirt (7)

Difficulties Encountered: Some targets were unwilling to engage. Some targets were too willing to engage. KYC was not willing to engage with targets.

Mission Findings: Targets are normally more willing to engage with personnel who are older and more experienced in academia, but many did engage when asked to. Also, time is a factor in the amount of willingness the targets have to engage.

Summary: The career fair is a valuable resource to obtain the items listed above in the inventory, and to engage with targets in a socially restrained environment.

Zay: College is insane

Speed Friending 101

Class has been canceled this week due the ostracization of Professor Ostrakon.(Don't worry; the professor will get over it.)

How to be a Jerk 162A

Lecture One (Transcript)

    I assume the class has already studied the syllabus I have posted on my website, my fifteen splendidly written autobiographies, and all sixty of my research papers on the theoretical applications of being a jerk. As you, doubtless, already know from reading one of my more recent papers, after an extensive period of data collection and analysis, I have found that my eyebrows are the most aesthetic part of my face. As obvious as this seems to the modern woman, there was certainly a, rather dark, time when this was not common knowledge.

    In a moment of exceeding humbleness, I graciously recognize the contribution of multitudes of women who have made countless, exacting studies on the subject. I, however, will gladly accept the recognition I have received from various figures of authority for shedding light on this enticing factoid and informing the general public. As matter of fact, I have already picked out my seven-hundred dollar suit and tie that I will be wearing to the Nobel Banquet that will be held in my honor. After all, it is only a matter of time.

    Now, I will turn the class's attention towards the online handout that was mandatory to print and bring to class. To give a little background, this is a conversation that I had with a particular girl during office hours as we were discussing my paper.

Handout One

She Wantsme: No, I don't.

Professor Jerk: Don't what?
She Wantsme: ...

Professor Jerk: ...

She Wantsme: [sighs] How is your research going?

Professor Jerk: Oh, I don't know. You see, I like to write these very detailed sentences and add           humor into my work. You know how many of the textbooks that professors write are written in a really boring, dry way which makes it so hard to read. I don't want to write like that. I want my writing to be interesting.

She Wantsme: Yeah? [smiles] I can respect that.

Professor Jerk: ...

She Wantsme: [shuffles homework papers; types on laptop]

Professor Jerk: [turns to the fan] This fan blows my hair in a very sexy way.

She Wantsme: ...

    It's time for my shower. Class will be dismissed early today. We can continue discussing all the interesting aspects and implications of my research next class. I know the class is dying to hear it straight from my deep, manly voice.

Blu: Continuing To Keep It Up In The Middle Of All the Work And Branching Out Into New Horizons: The Title Of A Book I Would Not Read

10.2.15

I am genuinely surprised at the amount of work I completed this week. Tuesday me thought about Friday night me many a time and in every rendition I was thinking about the relief that would come. Presently though, I'm not thinking about relief, but more along the lines of preparation.

Academic Things

Here's a rundown
- the quarter system is hard; there is too much to do
Basically, there are ten weeks and it's always very clear what week it is as people always refer to time in weeks. Then there're 3 quarters: autumn, winter, spring.

- classes counted in units; 1 unit is equal to 3 hours per week
It's recommended 12-15 units for the first quarter because "exploring campus is like a three unit class" but generally it's whatever you want; there are people taking 20+ units. 

- there exists random requirements that need to be completed
I've made a lovely spreadsheet to keep track of it all. I do appreciate a good spreadsheet.


10.10.15
Ha ha I am so late on this one and everything is going downhill (like when I bike to class)
Most of my life is taken up with reading about Hadrian/Marcus Aurelius/old things, small Spanish assignments, and computer science homework assignments. And some combination of those is the excuse I will give for not posting in time. 

Rin: Schedule and Workload

Hey! It's Rin again. Given any curiosity here's a quick rundown of what a weekly schedule is like in Foundation Year:

Studio Classes

These three classes occur once a week: drawing, spatial dynamics, and design. These classes are pretty long, each being eight hours. My design class, for example, goes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with Art History in the middle. Get ready for hours of critiques and general fumbling of trying to understand your homework assignment. Creative problem solving is a big deal in my school! Homework critiques are nerve racking in that you don't know if you did it "correctly" but at the same time it's fascinating to see how others solved the same problem with the same parameters.

This is what we did on the first day of class, making a string installment:

The two horizontal ones were in class and the rest was one studio class's worth of homework. Pretty basic charcoal and graphite powder on 18'' x 24'' and 22'' x 30'' paper:

Liberal Arts

These classes are the time to relax from a hard days work. They only last an hour and a half and for me it means on Mondays classes end at 11:00 a.m! And that gives me more time to finish studio homework.

Of course there's still the essay now and then and reading to do, but honestly enjoy I'll enjoy it while I can. In sophomore year liberals become incredibly more work heavy and studios become lighter. Speaking of which, I'm hoping to take classes at Brown next year since the two schools allow students the option to cross register like that.

Trimester

We have a fall semester, spring semester, and winter session. The first two are self explanatory with the first being the time of little to no social life and work is squeezed out of you until finals and the second being when you might have a normal social life given time management. Winter session is the time to explore different majors; most classes don't require a prerequisite. Some people take one or two studios, some take liberals. The classes themselves rank from lax to why are you doing this to yourself.

That's it for now, Ahaha, the pictures took more time than expected to edit so this post is a day late... In any case see you next time!

Dot: Almost Forgot

Hello, Dot again

I have new shits and perks to present you this week:

3. Rain
Even though I heard quite a rumor regarding the horror of the amount of snow in this area, I heard nothing about rain.

It was unbelievable (Californian perspective). The umbrella only covered the top half of my body; the rest just had to suffer. A pair rain boots are necessary if you don't want to spend your time drying your shoes with blow dryer. You have nothing you can do for your pants, though. Unless you have a loooonnnggg windbreaker or raincoat, your pants will be soaking wet and only thing you can do is wait for your body heat to dry it. The dilemma is whether you want to wear thin pants and freeze to death or thick pants and die waiting for it do dry. I recommend first method.

Surprisingly, people did not seem to mind - or just simply did not give anything - getting wet. Some just wore flipflops (which is perfect when you are walking on smooth surface) and hoodies. If you're like me and care greatly about keeping your body dry, grab a pair of rain boots and a large umbrella before visiting this area during this time of the year.

4. Fire alarm
Yesterday (Monday) around 5 AM, the fire alarm in my room went off out of blue. My roommates are I somewhat panicked at the beginning, but we soon realized that only our alarm was ringing even though there was no fire in our room (I don't know maybe I was being too smokin' hot).

The noise level of it was beyond annoying. If the regular house-use fire alarm is like poking, this one is like slapping. Man, that was loud. It was even more fantastic because I went to bed around 2-3 AM that day because I was being unproductive.

RA had to contact someone to rip that thing off the ceiling- which he did- and they are yet to replace it.

+ Just now, fire alarm went off again; however, this time the whole building was screaming it. Being a logical citizen, I abandoned this post and went outside. Of course, it was fire drill. I should've used elevator just to demonstrate the amount of care I give.

 I had great Monday.

5. Perks
Living near the downtown gives you accesses to different places. My peers and I went on exploring the area last weekend to celebrate the end of first exams.
Three words summary:
It was fun.

I want to say more about this but I have to run now so see y'all later.

Oh gosh, Theater

So, I'm involved in the theater program here, as sound op. For those of you not well-versed in theater, there are three main parts to a theater group: the actors, the people you see in front of you, dressed in costumes and whatnot; the crew, the people backstage who move stuff, make sure the stage is set, etc.; and there's the tech group, who handles lights and sound. I'm doing sound for this production, and this week is tech week (aka hell week) and I'm slowly dying because making and operating sound cues for a two hour show? Requires a lot of effort and thus a little less sleep.

(sorry for posting this late i'll be punctual next time)

Zay: College is insane

Speed Friending 101

Welcome to your first day of class! I know it has been six weeks since our university has officially started, but I felt the need to postpone the start of this particular class in order to prevent you from being able to drop this class before your drop deadline.

You're welcome. :)

Rules of common courtesy:

Our university is home to a significantly diverse group of students from all around the world. The diversity of opinions and values of each and every one of our students is greatly valued. In fact, we place such value on our diversity that it compels us to construct a rigid set of societal norms that students must reflect in order to escape ostracism.

Lecture One: The proper way to introduce yourself 

1. Hi!!!
   Your initial greeting must be explicitly enunciated and forcefully expelled with a very delicate air of elation. If overdone, people will suspect ecstasy; if underdone, people will anticipate suicide.
2. Shake hands
   Hand contact is a must. If the bacteria from the other person's last sneeze does not penetrate your inner palm, you have just lost a friend—move back to start.
3. My name is...
   If your name is too long or too hard to pronounce, you can bet that, no matter how fascinating you may think that you are, no one will remember your name.
4. State your major
   This is the make-it or break-it moment. If the other person finds your major unrelatablely boring, it is game over.

Lecture Two: Nice meeting you, goodbye 

Have a great weekend class! I know I will.