Another Hurdle, Quite Possibly Completed.
Heard from Vandenberg AFB about my Flight Physical. It would appear that I've passed. She was having her supervisor sign off on it the next day after collecting a bunch of signatures, and then it gets sent off to the Surgeon General who takes about 30 days to approve it. So I should know by about mid January the official word, although by all accounts it should be positive. So the wait begins for the real decision, which I won't hear about til most likely early February. Pardon me if I don't sound as enthusiastic as one would think, but around here people are constantly thinking about the worst case scenario, so everyone's quite convinced something will go wrong somewhere along the way. Might as well keep the party hats and kazoos in the closet until the official word comes back.
Seems like I've written a ton, and it's because I have, just not for this post. Alas, all will become apparent soon.
Thursday, December 19, 2002
Two Towers, and Some Pretty Nice Arse Whoopin.
Yeah The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was slow for decent sized gaps in the middle, and had about 12 too many slow rotating shots of some character walking across a mountain peak or huge valley, but there was one hell of a nice battle scene at the end. The set for that scene must have been gargantuous, I'd be quite interested to see a "making of" film on this movie. My favorite part of the movie was actually the character Gollum, who was entirely rendered using CGI and some of the most recent and advanced techniques. Unbelievable what they can do now, and how lifelike they can make a creature.
For guys who think LOTR is for nerds, I recommend at least showing up for the previews, as you'll get to see "The Run" as it is being called. Basically they take a Nissan through downtown Prague on surface streets, while breaking speeds upwards of 120 miles per hour. They have some really nice overhead shots from a distance that make it really obvious the car is just bookin it alongside the river. You can see the movie online at Z.com, but it's much weaker than the big screen full frame rate surround sound version. Also saw previews for a few good movies coming out including Bad Boys 2 which looked like it had some pretty sweet car chase scenes in it as well.
Back to the movie, it diverged from the book seemingly at the same level if not more than the first, but overall the creative depictions of both Gollum and the "Ents" as they are called, made it worth seeing. We'll go with 5 M's out of 7. Ended up hitting the sack at like 4 and not waking up til 2, gonna try to hit the sack at 2 tonight and not wake up until noon. Oops, I'm late already.
I was taking a look at my schedule for next quarter, and going online looking for the class websites in advance, and after looking one of the classes over, I've decided I'm not interested in it whatsoever. This somewhat sucks, because I'm either taking that class on Monday and Wednesday from 2 to 3:15 in IV Theater, which is the absolute closest classroom in relation to my room, or I can take a class I'm actually interested in that counts for the same requirement, but this one meets Monday Wednesday and Friday at 8am in Phelps, literally the furthest away you can get. Theoretically that means I'll be able to get up to workout or swim easier, but 8ams are generally lame no matter how you slice it. I have a couple days to decide, we'll see.
Yeah The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was slow for decent sized gaps in the middle, and had about 12 too many slow rotating shots of some character walking across a mountain peak or huge valley, but there was one hell of a nice battle scene at the end. The set for that scene must have been gargantuous, I'd be quite interested to see a "making of" film on this movie. My favorite part of the movie was actually the character Gollum, who was entirely rendered using CGI and some of the most recent and advanced techniques. Unbelievable what they can do now, and how lifelike they can make a creature.
For guys who think LOTR is for nerds, I recommend at least showing up for the previews, as you'll get to see "The Run" as it is being called. Basically they take a Nissan through downtown Prague on surface streets, while breaking speeds upwards of 120 miles per hour. They have some really nice overhead shots from a distance that make it really obvious the car is just bookin it alongside the river. You can see the movie online at Z.com, but it's much weaker than the big screen full frame rate surround sound version. Also saw previews for a few good movies coming out including Bad Boys 2 which looked like it had some pretty sweet car chase scenes in it as well.
Back to the movie, it diverged from the book seemingly at the same level if not more than the first, but overall the creative depictions of both Gollum and the "Ents" as they are called, made it worth seeing. We'll go with 5 M's out of 7. Ended up hitting the sack at like 4 and not waking up til 2, gonna try to hit the sack at 2 tonight and not wake up until noon. Oops, I'm late already.
I was taking a look at my schedule for next quarter, and going online looking for the class websites in advance, and after looking one of the classes over, I've decided I'm not interested in it whatsoever. This somewhat sucks, because I'm either taking that class on Monday and Wednesday from 2 to 3:15 in IV Theater, which is the absolute closest classroom in relation to my room, or I can take a class I'm actually interested in that counts for the same requirement, but this one meets Monday Wednesday and Friday at 8am in Phelps, literally the furthest away you can get. Theoretically that means I'll be able to get up to workout or swim easier, but 8ams are generally lame no matter how you slice it. I have a couple days to decide, we'll see.
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
With Good, Comes Bad.
Grades came out MUCH earlier than normal.
Let's start with some good stuff.
Writing 109EC: Prediction: B+ Official Grade: B+
No argument there.
Econ 100A: Prediction: B Official Grade: C
My bad on this one, I forgot to count the blank answers as wrong when I was calculating my score on the final. Turned out I got a 143 out of 200 rather than a 163, which is a low C uncurved. Bummer.
Econ 119: Prediction: D Official Grade: D+
Thank goodness it's not an F. Especially thanks to this next grade.
Econ 138A: Prediction: C Official Grade: F
This is the one that especialyl pisses me off. According to the online scoresheet, he didn't give me a score for the group current events project that we did. Average score on this was about 120 points, which would put me all the way into the C range. Apparently there was basically no gap between C's, D's, and F's. No one in the class got a D-, and someone only 40 points above me got a D. I e-mailed him immediately, but this is probably going to involve going in and haggling. I didn't turn it in, but I'm pretty sure the other two members of my group got scores, so they might have forgotten to put my name on it, or something. This is very annoying.
As a backup plan, I went through and recalculated my schedule for the next two quarters if the F for some reason stands. I'll basically retake the class next quarter, same book, same teacher, and end up with 20 units. It involved bumping a few sections around, but it fits.
I could stamp and holler and say I'm really going to get my head in the books this next quarter to make sure I have nothing to worry about come the end, and I'm sure a greater effort will be made, but I'm not going to pretend like there's going to be a sudden motivation to learn about economics, rather than a sudden motivation to graduate on time, and not screw up my life's plan.
Saw the midnight showing last night, more on that when I'm done fuming.
Grades came out MUCH earlier than normal.
Let's start with some good stuff.
Writing 109EC: Prediction: B+ Official Grade: B+
No argument there.
Econ 100A: Prediction: B Official Grade: C
My bad on this one, I forgot to count the blank answers as wrong when I was calculating my score on the final. Turned out I got a 143 out of 200 rather than a 163, which is a low C uncurved. Bummer.
Econ 119: Prediction: D Official Grade: D+
Thank goodness it's not an F. Especially thanks to this next grade.
Econ 138A: Prediction: C Official Grade: F
This is the one that especialyl pisses me off. According to the online scoresheet, he didn't give me a score for the group current events project that we did. Average score on this was about 120 points, which would put me all the way into the C range. Apparently there was basically no gap between C's, D's, and F's. No one in the class got a D-, and someone only 40 points above me got a D. I e-mailed him immediately, but this is probably going to involve going in and haggling. I didn't turn it in, but I'm pretty sure the other two members of my group got scores, so they might have forgotten to put my name on it, or something. This is very annoying.
As a backup plan, I went through and recalculated my schedule for the next two quarters if the F for some reason stands. I'll basically retake the class next quarter, same book, same teacher, and end up with 20 units. It involved bumping a few sections around, but it fits.
I could stamp and holler and say I'm really going to get my head in the books this next quarter to make sure I have nothing to worry about come the end, and I'm sure a greater effort will be made, but I'm not going to pretend like there's going to be a sudden motivation to learn about economics, rather than a sudden motivation to graduate on time, and not screw up my life's plan.
Saw the midnight showing last night, more on that when I'm done fuming.
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
It's Christmas Eve and These Shoes are Just Her Size...
Two posts in a day, two days in a row? I know it's flabbergasting, but I tend to get pretty bored at home.
That, and I finally remembered to download the song I heard on the way home in the car, that just about floored me. Okay call me wishy washy, but every once in a while a song comes along that gives me that choked up feeling in my throat. Bob Carlisle's "Christmas Shoes" has joined the very short list of songs that have affected me that way. It's a beautiful song by itself, but the lyrics and the story they tell are really what bring out the tissues. The bridge before the final chorus is actually my favorite part. Usually bridges are just sort of thrown in, done as an afterthrought, but in this song its more of a crescendo. Maybe it's Carlisle's voice, maybe it's the subject matter, whatever it is, this song takes its place along his other beautiful piece "Butterfly Kisses" as a permanent selection in my playlist.
Those who haven't given it a listen, feel free to ask me for it, or snag it yourself. I've been told by a friend or two that I only like a "certain kind" of "cookie cutter or "mainstream" music, and never color outside the lines, so to speak. All I can say is if you enjoy the music I've gushed about in the past, there's a strong chance you'll also enjoy both this song, and the ones I recommend in the future.
Two posts in a day, two days in a row? I know it's flabbergasting, but I tend to get pretty bored at home.
That, and I finally remembered to download the song I heard on the way home in the car, that just about floored me. Okay call me wishy washy, but every once in a while a song comes along that gives me that choked up feeling in my throat. Bob Carlisle's "Christmas Shoes" has joined the very short list of songs that have affected me that way. It's a beautiful song by itself, but the lyrics and the story they tell are really what bring out the tissues. The bridge before the final chorus is actually my favorite part. Usually bridges are just sort of thrown in, done as an afterthrought, but in this song its more of a crescendo. Maybe it's Carlisle's voice, maybe it's the subject matter, whatever it is, this song takes its place along his other beautiful piece "Butterfly Kisses" as a permanent selection in my playlist.
Those who haven't given it a listen, feel free to ask me for it, or snag it yourself. I've been told by a friend or two that I only like a "certain kind" of "cookie cutter or "mainstream" music, and never color outside the lines, so to speak. All I can say is if you enjoy the music I've gushed about in the past, there's a strong chance you'll also enjoy both this song, and the ones I recommend in the future.
Predictions...
The thought occurs to me I never got around to grade predictions, so here they are in simple form. First up we have Econ 100A, in which I had a B going into the Final, and received a B uncurved on it for sure given he posted the answer key and I took a gander the other night. We'll go with a B in that class. Then we have Writing 109 EC, in which we got an A on our Business Plan, but I got some B's on various assignments throughout. We'll go with a B+ here. Then we have Econ 119, in which I had a C or so going into the Final which was worth 50% of our grade, which I absolutely bombed, we'll go with a D here. An F would really screw things up, you'd think that would be mathmatically impossible. Last but not least we have Econ 138, which I had sort of a variety of grades in going into the Final which was worth like 30%. Eh I did get a B on the midterm, so we'll go with a C in the class, I didn't do all that bad on the Final, so couldn't be much worse than that. So by my count, we're lookin at bout 9.3 grade points, or a 2.33 GPA. Pretty shoddy, hopefully it won't be that bad. Best case scenario I'm thinkin A- in Writ 109EC, B+ in Econ 100A, B in Econ 138A, and C in Econ 119. That would end up 12 grade points and a 3.00 GPA. That's pretty much wishful thinking there.
Finally got around to finishing Fellowship of the Ring tonight, in no small part due to the fact I'll be seeing the 2nd movie tomorrow night. This leaves all day tomorrow to finish the second book of 320 or so pages, and possibly watch all or parts of the first movie again to make sure I'm on the same page, as there have been many areas in which the movie has taken a different path than the book. After watching 24 and Real World I'll probably head on over to the AMC Theater at the Galleria, ordered tickets in advance from Movietickets.com (for tickets, JUST CLICK IT, didn't you see the commercial?) and I know a few other people who are gonna be watching it there, so hopefully we'll be able to meet up, it's showing on 3 screens at 12:01 so that might prove difficult.
Now to sleep, and then to read.
The thought occurs to me I never got around to grade predictions, so here they are in simple form. First up we have Econ 100A, in which I had a B going into the Final, and received a B uncurved on it for sure given he posted the answer key and I took a gander the other night. We'll go with a B in that class. Then we have Writing 109 EC, in which we got an A on our Business Plan, but I got some B's on various assignments throughout. We'll go with a B+ here. Then we have Econ 119, in which I had a C or so going into the Final which was worth 50% of our grade, which I absolutely bombed, we'll go with a D here. An F would really screw things up, you'd think that would be mathmatically impossible. Last but not least we have Econ 138, which I had sort of a variety of grades in going into the Final which was worth like 30%. Eh I did get a B on the midterm, so we'll go with a C in the class, I didn't do all that bad on the Final, so couldn't be much worse than that. So by my count, we're lookin at bout 9.3 grade points, or a 2.33 GPA. Pretty shoddy, hopefully it won't be that bad. Best case scenario I'm thinkin A- in Writ 109EC, B+ in Econ 100A, B in Econ 138A, and C in Econ 119. That would end up 12 grade points and a 3.00 GPA. That's pretty much wishful thinking there.
Finally got around to finishing Fellowship of the Ring tonight, in no small part due to the fact I'll be seeing the 2nd movie tomorrow night. This leaves all day tomorrow to finish the second book of 320 or so pages, and possibly watch all or parts of the first movie again to make sure I'm on the same page, as there have been many areas in which the movie has taken a different path than the book. After watching 24 and Real World I'll probably head on over to the AMC Theater at the Galleria, ordered tickets in advance from Movietickets.com (for tickets, JUST CLICK IT, didn't you see the commercial?) and I know a few other people who are gonna be watching it there, so hopefully we'll be able to meet up, it's showing on 3 screens at 12:01 so that might prove difficult.
Now to sleep, and then to read.
Sunday, December 15, 2002
Hooooome, for the Hooooolidays.
New speed record tonight, impressive given I was never over 80 the entire way. Via the 101 and 405, 1 hour, 37 minutes. It's exactly a half hour to the Ventura railroad bridge, an hour to the Subway I usually stop at for a midtrip snack, and an hour and a half to Inglewood Blvd., my offramp. This is at 10pm though, generally it takes an hour and a half just to get to the Getty, and then another hour or so to get here from there.
Just wanted to update the situation, gonna catch some Z's before carting everything into my room and unpacking my computer tomorrow.
New speed record tonight, impressive given I was never over 80 the entire way. Via the 101 and 405, 1 hour, 37 minutes. It's exactly a half hour to the Ventura railroad bridge, an hour to the Subway I usually stop at for a midtrip snack, and an hour and a half to Inglewood Blvd., my offramp. This is at 10pm though, generally it takes an hour and a half just to get to the Getty, and then another hour or so to get here from there.
Just wanted to update the situation, gonna catch some Z's before carting everything into my room and unpacking my computer tomorrow.
Spreading Warmth.
Yesterday I was closer to speechless than I have been in quite some time... Two of my friends here stopped by to give me a gift at some point... First a bit about gifts, I used to go all out when I had a significant other, when it came to Xmas, birthdays, monthly anniversaries, you name it. I was pretty obsessive about holidays and such. Since I've been riding the single train, I've never really been into the whole requirement of gift giving for holidays thing. Go ahead, call me Scrooge or whatever, or cheap or something, but it isn't that I never give anyone anything ever, I just tend to do it at random times. If I see something in a store that's perfect for someone in July, I buy it and give it to them like that day. I think hiding stuff for months just to stack up in advance for future holidays is ridiculous. So anyway, a lot of the time I receive things for people I have nothing in return, and that makes me feel bad. I just make sure to hit those people who they're least expecting it with something to brighten their day.
Now back to one of the coolest gifts I've gotten in a while. This really warm fuzzy blanket with a beautiful wolf pattern on it, and even two fuzzy wolf pillows to go with it. After all the whining I've been doing about not having pillows for the futon, and not actually doing anything about it, I guess they got sick of hearing me complain. :/ The color scheme even matches the futon, which is sweet, and it's now become my warmth creator of choice for my random midmorning and afternoon naps. I totally wasn't expecting something this awesome when I heard they had gotten me something, the brownie points count in their section of my book just went up by like a berjillion. They were already cool people to begin with, but dang.
They even threw in glow in the dark dolphins for my ceiling, so my place isn't qutie so boring at night. :) Speaking of which, I was goaded into (okay I thought it was a cool idea too) putting up xmas lights in my room, which turned out pretty neat. One of the above friends helped me out, so I've got matching green lights around the bedframe and white one's all around the window. Of course I put this up only like three days before I was leaving for home, but I figure I'll leave them up til like March or I get bored of hearing people complain. I think they look neato anyway.
So yeah, my friends are the coolest ever. Or should I say warmest ever.
Yesterday I was closer to speechless than I have been in quite some time... Two of my friends here stopped by to give me a gift at some point... First a bit about gifts, I used to go all out when I had a significant other, when it came to Xmas, birthdays, monthly anniversaries, you name it. I was pretty obsessive about holidays and such. Since I've been riding the single train, I've never really been into the whole requirement of gift giving for holidays thing. Go ahead, call me Scrooge or whatever, or cheap or something, but it isn't that I never give anyone anything ever, I just tend to do it at random times. If I see something in a store that's perfect for someone in July, I buy it and give it to them like that day. I think hiding stuff for months just to stack up in advance for future holidays is ridiculous. So anyway, a lot of the time I receive things for people I have nothing in return, and that makes me feel bad. I just make sure to hit those people who they're least expecting it with something to brighten their day.
Now back to one of the coolest gifts I've gotten in a while. This really warm fuzzy blanket with a beautiful wolf pattern on it, and even two fuzzy wolf pillows to go with it. After all the whining I've been doing about not having pillows for the futon, and not actually doing anything about it, I guess they got sick of hearing me complain. :/ The color scheme even matches the futon, which is sweet, and it's now become my warmth creator of choice for my random midmorning and afternoon naps. I totally wasn't expecting something this awesome when I heard they had gotten me something, the brownie points count in their section of my book just went up by like a berjillion. They were already cool people to begin with, but dang.
They even threw in glow in the dark dolphins for my ceiling, so my place isn't qutie so boring at night. :) Speaking of which, I was goaded into (okay I thought it was a cool idea too) putting up xmas lights in my room, which turned out pretty neat. One of the above friends helped me out, so I've got matching green lights around the bedframe and white one's all around the window. Of course I put this up only like three days before I was leaving for home, but I figure I'll leave them up til like March or I get bored of hearing people complain. I think they look neato anyway.
So yeah, my friends are the coolest ever. Or should I say warmest ever.
