Graduations -- Eighty Ninth Post

Fun fact: I'm about to graduate from my undergraduate university. I have a grad school all lined up, I'm all confirmed and working on a roommate and apartment for next year, and I can safely put off loan repayments for at least five years. Because I'm in chemistry grad school, I will be paid to go to school and get my doctorate. I'll have to work my butt off to get that money, but it's better than having to work to pay tuition on top of living expenses (i.e., food, shelter). Still, graduating puts one in a strange frame of mind, regardless of whether it's high school or college (college = uni, for any UK denizens reading this). I feel like reflecting on where the hell the past four years went, all of a sudden. I feel like giving advice to anyone who looks younger than me. I feel like making jokes about common lab glassware. And, of course, I feel like blogging about it instead of doing my homework.
I also feel like all the grown-ups in my life who always make weird statements about "how fast life goes" were right all along. I mean, where did the last four years go? I had to recap them just to prove that it really has been three years and nine months since I got here.
Freshman Year: 2009-2010
Cried when my family left
Became vegetarian
Made friends on hall
Didn't really make other friends
Found out that college is hard
Discovered Heroes and became addicted
Found spiritual home in shotokan karate
Had nervous breakdown in advisor's office over physics
Was angry in class most of the time
Passed Physics 1
Took 3 lab classes at the same time
Survived taking 3 lab classes, arguably
Started realizing that personal beliefs line up remarkably well with feminism

Sophomore Year: 2010-2011
Lost touch with freshman year friends
Kept doing karate
Took Ochem and German at same time
Made new friends
Applied to study abroad
Was accepted to study abroad program
Was accepted to University of Sunderland
Didn't do much else
May have survived taking OChem and German at the same time
Gained lots of confidence from karate

Junior Year: 2011-2012
Studied abroad in England
Made lots of new friends
Did lots of new things
Pierced nose
Discovered self outside of family-and-friend network
Liked who I found
Visited and fell in love with Edinburgh
Visited and didn't enjoy London
Had computer stolen
Came back to States
Promptly took hardest undergrad course load ever and didn't have a breakdown
Was sick all the time due to rain and cold, drafty, poorly-lit house
Missed England

Senior Year: 2012-2013
Missed England
Kept friends from sophomore year
Got new job in a teaching-ish position
Loved new job, much to my surprise
Took GRE
Did okay enough on GRE to get into grad school
Took lots of really hard classes and didn't have a breakdown
Got yellow belt in karate
Applied to grad schools
Got into top choice grad school
Kept missing England
Got green belt in karate
Lost motivation for last two assignments of undergrad like you would not believe

So, okay, it really has been four years. And if you want advice for college, here is my advice to you: Everyone's experience is different. If there is one thing I would love for everyone to do, it's study abroad, but I know that it's expensive and sometimes difficult to manage with a busy course load. So go, live your life, and enjoy what comes your way. If you need fantastic grades to get into your post-graduate whatever, then try hard. If not, well, I got into grad school with a solid B average. I don't get honor cords, which is kind of depressing given that I was valedictorian in high school, but whatever. The point is, I'm done and I did my best. Do I have regrets? Sure. Would I change anything? Nothing but keeping in touch with people and remembering to clean my hair out of the shower sophomore year.

Also, I can't help but include another fun fact:
The difference between a University and a College in the States is in the graduate programs. My school is a university; another school in Eastern Washington that starts with "Whit" is a college. Ugh, get it right.

Forty Fifth Post

I'll be upfront. This is a rant post, almost related to Fortieth Post (I think). If you don't want to read a rant about Hulu, just hit the little x on the tab for this blog. I do feel a little bit bad about ranting. I mean, I can rant to real people; I don't need to full up the internet with my anger.
Oh, well.
I have a bone to pick with Hulu Plus.
As a rule, Hulu provides me with free television. When a show ends, the whole thing ends up on Hulu. Free and whatnot. All seasons. All. Of. Them.
My obsession with Legend of the Seeker will be on standby for a while, at least until I can afford season 2 on DVD.
F***ers. I adored that show (*coughCraigHornerisreallyhotcough*) and now a small joy that is rather too large is gone.
Gone!
Those f***ers stole my television show! It should all be on there! ALL OF IT!
I'm not paying a cent, and I should get to see all of these episodes! The show is over! WANT!
Oh, Hulu Plus has it?
Newsflash: I HAVE NO MONEY!
Well, not literally since I got some for Christmas, but that's all going to my jan term class.
No. Money. Hear me, Hulu? I don't have the money to pay for these television shows! Your job is to provide me with free television shows, not to make money!
Oye. All of Heroes is online -- all freaking four seasons -- but only one of the two seasons of Legend of the Seeker is up for free?
What.
The.
F***.
What the f***, Hulu? Why do you deprive me of my Craig Horner? This might force me to find a hot guy in real life! How can I function like that?
In real life, I'm not very interesting. I can make any situation awkward, and I never know what to say to people.
Television shows are an escape for me.
This might make me face real life. And I don't want to deal with that now.

Fortieth Post

First, I have discovered a few things on the internets.
1. Records of a Mad Scientist. JW, a biochemistry graduate student from Indiana, winds up teaching (which she never wanted to do) at a state school in America's Midwest.
2. Alex Day ("nerimon") on Youtube. Just a guy with a camera and internet access who is also a skillful singer-songwriter and a hilarious dude. Also, I have to say as an American that his accent is fascinating. I sometimes suspect that I have an unnatural obsession with British accents, but I think it might just be one of those "American things". Anyway, enough about my obsessions. Look up nerimon's channel on youtube. (the people to whom he links are also pretty cool)
Oh hey, you know that I'm American now. Oh, well.
3. The Legend of the Seeker. A scifi/fantasy television series about a normal guy thrust into another life by a prophecy. It's absolutely amazing, at least thus far, with good acting and a worthy script. See if you can guess who played the Mouth of Sauron from the extended version of the Return of the King (from Lord of the Rings, and if you really didn't know... I have nothing to say to you). All the episodes are up on Hulu because it ended, but why should I care? I don't have a television, not to mention cable/satellite/whathaveyou.
You may or may not know (I can't be expected to remember all I've told you, can I?) that I'm also obsessed with two other television shows- Heroes and Sanctuary. I think Heroes might be over, so all the seasons might be up on Hulu. Sanctuary is not over, Gott sei Dank, but it's on a very weird upload schedule.

I recall saying at the beginning of this blog that I had no interest in Harry Potter or Twilight, two things that seem to drag other sites down.
That is now a lie. I have read Harry Potter, and I enjoyed them immensely. Check out Mark Reads Harry Potter if you want a chapter-by-chapter review of all seven books; it's hilarious and enjoyable if you've already read the books. I have also-

I don't really want to tell you. It's kind of embarrassing.
Actually, I've told no one. Not roommate, not best friend (who I text because he's at another school), not close girl friend. I think I might even have the library people in the dark about it.
...not that I check it out, I just lurk back to my little study cubicle with no power outlet for my laptop (the darling thing) and then leave it there when it's time to go.

Nope, not telling. If you guess, more power to ya. You can win 10 internets.

Okay. So a funny thing that happened was I was in the Target near my school looking for... I think I was looking for chocolate, socks, and shampoo. Oh, and a Christmas present for my roommate. Anyway. My best friend is a freshman in college and an overachiever. I mean, the man wants to be a surgeon, so he kind of has to be an overachiever, but I think that high school was too easy for him. Now, however, he is in college.
I was just going along, browsing through random stuff, when I got a text message that made me laugh so hard that I had to sit down under a clothes rack.
Here it is, exactly as it appeared on my dumbphone screen.
"Ohmygoodnessit'sthu
rsdayandfinalsarene
xtweekpanictimei'mgoi
ngtofailatlifeandendu
pasabumonthestreet
sellingcracktokidstos
upportmyselfuntilthe
mexicanskillme"
(character limit)
"becauseidon'tspeaks
panishandallbecausei
failedmycalculusexam
firstquarteroffreshm
anyear!"

Picture me, sitting under a clothes rack in target, laughing at a text from my friend who is worried about becoming a bum selling crack to kids until mexicans kill him, all because he failed a calculus exam.
Well, you can't picture me because you don't have my picture. Okay. Picture a 20-year-old girl, er, woman now that I'm over 18 (and have been for two years...), with long brown hair, blue jeans, a green shirt, hiking boots, and a black jacket sitting under a clothes rack in target, laughing at a text from my friend who is worried about becoming a bum selling crack to kids until Mexicans kill him, all because he failed a calculus exam.
Poor guy. I gave up worrying about finals when the kids in one of my high school classes discovered that one would need to totally fail an exam worth 10% of the grade to really affect one's grade that much. Oddly, I do much better when I'm under pressure, so I'm not too worried.
Well, I am worried about the fact that most of my finals are at 0800 next week. I am not pleased one bit.
And now it's well after 0400 -- more like 0500 anymore -- and I was trying to reset my sleep schedule so that I won't die during my 0800 finals. Oh, well... So much for that. I'm still getting up at 1000 tomorrow to study for my hell classes.
Also, if you get a chance and you're as unfamiliar with German Christmas (or "Winter Holiday Season") traditions as I am, look up "Krampus" in Google Images.
Just Do It. You will never see Santa Claus the same way (get your filthy minds out of the gutter. I didn't mean it like that).
Okay. Goodnight. I do not even remember why I was writing this. But it's awesome.

Thirty Second Post

September has rolled around. School is starting up with a vengeance, and I am getting sick.
I met my new roommate, who is from California, USA.
She is nice and likes to rock climb.
I keep running into my old stalker, who seemed determined to keep my life from being boring. I prefer boring to not being safe from unexpected, awkward "conversations" in my own room, thank you. He doesn't know where I live this year.
Speaking of where I live, we have a couch! That was pretty exciting.
I finally decorated my wall, using up several pieces of paper and replacing two ink cartridges. The printer-wraith seemed to be pleased by my offering, and printed the rest of the pictures very nicely. The result was well-worth the effort, however, as I know have Heroes (TV Series) pictures and logos, XKCD comics, LOLcats, various other comics, British WWII-era propaganda posters, Dune movie covers, and Bourne pictures and movie covers scattered about my walls. It actually kind of looks like I live here now.
Class starts tomorrow. I am expecting a lot out of German 101, since earlier today I spent $300 on the book. I finished the "soul killing" book for one of the four classes that all students have to take to graduate, much to my roommate's shock.
When I look at my schedule on the spreadsheet that I make for every semester to plan out my days and keep from conflicting classes, my schedule looks rather paltry. Only three Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes, one Tuesday-Thursday class, one PE class, and just one lab. Unfortunately, all three of the Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes are four credits, and the Tuesday-Thursday class is a 300-level course (all my other classes are 100- or 200-level).
It's going to be one heck of a semester. I hope to take an ice-skating class for Jan-Term. And that is it.