College
So, here comes the promised comprehensive entry on college. I know it's very late, but at least it's here. It'll probably be pretty long, so
First, I'll talk about my job. I worked for Event Support, which provides furniture, sound, lighting, and lock/unlock services to pretty much all events taking place on campus. The pay kind of sucks: I made $7.15 an hour, campus minimum wage (and significantly lower than Oregon's minimum wage). But hopefully I'll be getting a raise somewhat soon for having more training. But most importantly, I actually enjoy much of the work. Although setting up 250 plastic chairs for a show isn't all that fun, working with big sound systems, seeing free shows (occasionally) and in general being productive with my job is pretty nice. Plus, we get to set up for all the big campus concerts here. I guess the main problem with my job is that I think half of the student supervisors think that I'm rather incompetent. You see, especially at the beginning of the year when I truly had no idea what was going on, I had/have a tendency to ask a whole lot of questions. I guess I just want everything I do to be right, and usually the supervisors knew exactly what would be right. Hopefully next year I'll know more about what's going on and be able to make more decisions by myself.
Now, academics in general. I ended up doing well academically, but I guess that doesn't really surprise anyone. I got one B+ in Intro to Sociology (a total waste of a class, anyways), a bunch of A-'s, and the rest A's. I figure that's pretty good for taking 21 and 25 credits in the fall and spring, respectably. (Of course, four of each of those were piano lessons, but I worked pretty hard at those, too). My work habits weren't very good: I attended math class about 30% of the time (even though it was at 10 o'clock, not very early), usually did my physics and economics homework the night before they were due (often in the same night, staying up until 3 or 4 or later), and I stopped doing my math homework when I had done as much as would count. But I guess I did do almost all of what was assigned, and as I said, the end result was pretty positive.
I remember sophomore year at Wilson in Mr. Murphy's class, he said that there were three types of good students in high school: first, the kind that works hard in high school, and then continues to work hard in college, and thus does well there; second, the kind that is smart enough to get away with not working hard in high school, but once they get to college they don't have the study habits to survive, so they do poorly; third, those that are also smart enough to cruise through high school, then also cruise through college as well. I guess they end up getting screwed in grad school or something. Anyways, I always hoped I'd be the last type (at least pictured myself that way), but now I realize that I actually do work decently hard. Not nearly as hard as a lot of people (I've never spent an considerable amount of time just studying information), but I'm not a total slacker.
The city of Rochester is actually pretty decent. Some bands come through for concerts (which is pretty much my main basis for the decent-ness of a city), they have a pretty good symphony orchestra, other cultural opportunities, and plenty of good restaurants and stuff. But it's not nearly as awesome as Portland, nor most other decent-sized cities. As for the weather, there wasn't that much snow, in terms of total accumulation, but it just never melted until Spring Break. And most of the rest of the time, it was cloudy and sometimes drizzly.
Socially, this year was a disappointment. Yeah, I admit it. I had big plans of having a great time with all sorts of different people, making great new friends, being an integral part of some group, staying up until 3 talking about politics and philosophy and religion and culture and life, and more. I did meet a bunch of cool people and made a decent number of friends, but I never really did make a core group of friends. It seems like most other people did, either from their halls, freshman seminar classes, clubs, or possibly from partying, and this core group in many ways defines one's college experience. Again, I didn't really have one: I only took a freshman seminar-like class the second semester, once most social stuff had settled in, had a kind of weird hall, wasn't involved in too many clubs (and those that I was didn't really facilitate making a core group of friends), and didn't party at all. But that's all just making excuses. Once the year set in and I didn't magically end up with a bunch of friends, I started spending too much time in my dorm room, mostly on my computer. I guess I'm just not that much of a social person. Well, no, but I'm not very good at getting out there and being social, nor likely to make the effort to do so. I can also see that happening this summer. At the very beginning, I did some good social stuff, but now I'm kind of getting apathetic and spending too much time at home. So, if anyone wants to hang out, just let me know. Please.
And now for my love life. Joy. Probably about two weeks after leaving for college, I broke up with my then-girlfriend, which may or may not have been the right decision. I was discouraged by the concept of never seeing her again until probably 8 months later (it ended up being sooner), beginning to feel the age difference, feeling social pressure from many sides to do so, and a little bit infatuated with a JAP (Jewish-American Princess... I recently learned that term, but it totally applies to this girl) I met at orientation. We spent way too much time together, and might have gone somewhere, but I also started spending too much time with a different girl from my floor, and we basically ended up hooking up (not quite sure if that term refers only to actual sex or not... anyways, sex did not happen, but I'm using the term anyways). Both of us were on the rebound, thrilled by the freedom of college, didn't really want to admit to just having a casual hook-up, and really enjoyed the action, so we went into an official "relationship." Things got really awkward really fast, and we quickly broke up. It turns out she had all sorts of issues, only a few of which I had any idea about at first, so that was probably for the better.
I had my share of random crushes (including one that I took to the Viennese Ball, but that didn't go anywhere), but the only other significant thing in the romance category is my relationship with Becky. We knew each other from the beginning of the year, but it all started at Thanksgiving Break. She found out I was stuck on campus for the break, and invited me to spend a night at her sister's house with her. I accepted, and we ended up having a great time that remained entirely platonic. Among other things, we made a fort from furniture and blankets and gave each other random nicknames. The next week, we hung out a lot, and built a fort in her room, where we kissed. The next few weeks we were in a quasi-relationship, then eventually it became public/official. Winter break was fine, I guess, then things slowly went downhill from when we got back to spring break, where it finally ended. For more info on that, see the relevant entry. I'd write more on it, but right now I can't really figure out how to say what I want to say.
Here's some hard data: first semester I took Multidimensional Calculus, Intro to Electricity and Magnetism (honors), Music Theory III, Intro to Sociology, primary piano lessons (hour long from actual professors), and Chamber Singers. In the spring I took Linear Algebra with Diff. Eq., Intro to Modern Physics (honors), Analysis of Rock Music, Intermediate Microeconomics (honors), CAS 105 (the standard freshman writing class, my section about argument analysis applied to alternative energy, peak oil, global warming and the like), and again primary piano lessons and Chamber Singers. I was involved in my job (Event Support), Protestant Chapel Community (PCC... kind of weird having a new use for that acronym), Ballroom Dancing in the fall, and not much more.
I might write more in the future if I feel like it. Any questions about other specific topics I didn't address?
Sorry about all the parenthesis.
First, I'll talk about my job. I worked for Event Support, which provides furniture, sound, lighting, and lock/unlock services to pretty much all events taking place on campus. The pay kind of sucks: I made $7.15 an hour, campus minimum wage (and significantly lower than Oregon's minimum wage). But hopefully I'll be getting a raise somewhat soon for having more training. But most importantly, I actually enjoy much of the work. Although setting up 250 plastic chairs for a show isn't all that fun, working with big sound systems, seeing free shows (occasionally) and in general being productive with my job is pretty nice. Plus, we get to set up for all the big campus concerts here. I guess the main problem with my job is that I think half of the student supervisors think that I'm rather incompetent. You see, especially at the beginning of the year when I truly had no idea what was going on, I had/have a tendency to ask a whole lot of questions. I guess I just want everything I do to be right, and usually the supervisors knew exactly what would be right. Hopefully next year I'll know more about what's going on and be able to make more decisions by myself.
Now, academics in general. I ended up doing well academically, but I guess that doesn't really surprise anyone. I got one B+ in Intro to Sociology (a total waste of a class, anyways), a bunch of A-'s, and the rest A's. I figure that's pretty good for taking 21 and 25 credits in the fall and spring, respectably. (Of course, four of each of those were piano lessons, but I worked pretty hard at those, too). My work habits weren't very good: I attended math class about 30% of the time (even though it was at 10 o'clock, not very early), usually did my physics and economics homework the night before they were due (often in the same night, staying up until 3 or 4 or later), and I stopped doing my math homework when I had done as much as would count. But I guess I did do almost all of what was assigned, and as I said, the end result was pretty positive.
I remember sophomore year at Wilson in Mr. Murphy's class, he said that there were three types of good students in high school: first, the kind that works hard in high school, and then continues to work hard in college, and thus does well there; second, the kind that is smart enough to get away with not working hard in high school, but once they get to college they don't have the study habits to survive, so they do poorly; third, those that are also smart enough to cruise through high school, then also cruise through college as well. I guess they end up getting screwed in grad school or something. Anyways, I always hoped I'd be the last type (at least pictured myself that way), but now I realize that I actually do work decently hard. Not nearly as hard as a lot of people (I've never spent an considerable amount of time just studying information), but I'm not a total slacker.
The city of Rochester is actually pretty decent. Some bands come through for concerts (which is pretty much my main basis for the decent-ness of a city), they have a pretty good symphony orchestra, other cultural opportunities, and plenty of good restaurants and stuff. But it's not nearly as awesome as Portland, nor most other decent-sized cities. As for the weather, there wasn't that much snow, in terms of total accumulation, but it just never melted until Spring Break. And most of the rest of the time, it was cloudy and sometimes drizzly.
Socially, this year was a disappointment. Yeah, I admit it. I had big plans of having a great time with all sorts of different people, making great new friends, being an integral part of some group, staying up until 3 talking about politics and philosophy and religion and culture and life, and more. I did meet a bunch of cool people and made a decent number of friends, but I never really did make a core group of friends. It seems like most other people did, either from their halls, freshman seminar classes, clubs, or possibly from partying, and this core group in many ways defines one's college experience. Again, I didn't really have one: I only took a freshman seminar-like class the second semester, once most social stuff had settled in, had a kind of weird hall, wasn't involved in too many clubs (and those that I was didn't really facilitate making a core group of friends), and didn't party at all. But that's all just making excuses. Once the year set in and I didn't magically end up with a bunch of friends, I started spending too much time in my dorm room, mostly on my computer. I guess I'm just not that much of a social person. Well, no, but I'm not very good at getting out there and being social, nor likely to make the effort to do so. I can also see that happening this summer. At the very beginning, I did some good social stuff, but now I'm kind of getting apathetic and spending too much time at home. So, if anyone wants to hang out, just let me know. Please.
And now for my love life. Joy. Probably about two weeks after leaving for college, I broke up with my then-girlfriend, which may or may not have been the right decision. I was discouraged by the concept of never seeing her again until probably 8 months later (it ended up being sooner), beginning to feel the age difference, feeling social pressure from many sides to do so, and a little bit infatuated with a JAP (Jewish-American Princess... I recently learned that term, but it totally applies to this girl) I met at orientation. We spent way too much time together, and might have gone somewhere, but I also started spending too much time with a different girl from my floor, and we basically ended up hooking up (not quite sure if that term refers only to actual sex or not... anyways, sex did not happen, but I'm using the term anyways). Both of us were on the rebound, thrilled by the freedom of college, didn't really want to admit to just having a casual hook-up, and really enjoyed the action, so we went into an official "relationship." Things got really awkward really fast, and we quickly broke up. It turns out she had all sorts of issues, only a few of which I had any idea about at first, so that was probably for the better.
I had my share of random crushes (including one that I took to the Viennese Ball, but that didn't go anywhere), but the only other significant thing in the romance category is my relationship with Becky. We knew each other from the beginning of the year, but it all started at Thanksgiving Break. She found out I was stuck on campus for the break, and invited me to spend a night at her sister's house with her. I accepted, and we ended up having a great time that remained entirely platonic. Among other things, we made a fort from furniture and blankets and gave each other random nicknames. The next week, we hung out a lot, and built a fort in her room, where we kissed. The next few weeks we were in a quasi-relationship, then eventually it became public/official. Winter break was fine, I guess, then things slowly went downhill from when we got back to spring break, where it finally ended. For more info on that, see the relevant entry. I'd write more on it, but right now I can't really figure out how to say what I want to say.
Here's some hard data: first semester I took Multidimensional Calculus, Intro to Electricity and Magnetism (honors), Music Theory III, Intro to Sociology, primary piano lessons (hour long from actual professors), and Chamber Singers. In the spring I took Linear Algebra with Diff. Eq., Intro to Modern Physics (honors), Analysis of Rock Music, Intermediate Microeconomics (honors), CAS 105 (the standard freshman writing class, my section about argument analysis applied to alternative energy, peak oil, global warming and the like), and again primary piano lessons and Chamber Singers. I was involved in my job (Event Support), Protestant Chapel Community (PCC... kind of weird having a new use for that acronym), Ballroom Dancing in the fall, and not much more.
I might write more in the future if I feel like it. Any questions about other specific topics I didn't address?
Sorry about all the parenthesis.