January 03, 2006
Wrapping it up
Fall quarter is over. I could have done better, I could have done worse. I can't say I'm entirely happy with how the quarter went, but whatever. I'll hope to do better this coming quarter. Speaking of which, I have but two quarters of school left, if things go well. That's a sobering thought in many ways, but also something I'm not going to think about too much.
Winter break is also now over. It was a break of reunions, as I spent most of my time with old friends from HS. It was fun, but weird since this may be the last winter break before we all move onto real jobs and grad school and those kinds of things that sometimes don't permit returning for winter breaks. Ignoring that though, it was a good time to catch up, see what everyone's been doing, see where everyone plans to go. It seemed like almost everyone was staying in school in some form or another, with me being one of the few moving onto the working world. While this does kinda make me wonder if grad school wasn't a better choice, I still feel like I've been in school for way too long now.
One of my TAs said that if I was thinking of going into grad school at some point in my life, that I might as well just get it over with now instead; slay the evil schoolbeast in one foul swoop rather than destroy it up to its neck, then return a few years later to finish the job. More than a few people have already said that it would probably be quite difficult for me to leave an established career and go back to school. All the same, I feel the need to move away from being a student and making my frist drive at being financially independent. Or something.
And then I think about the current state of school for myself. I am taking something like six or seven classes next quarter. Two engineering, two philosophy, one computer science, one communications, and one engineering project class thinger. It is not going to be fun I think and I am worried about it. I figure though, that if things really get hairy, I can always switch the philo classes to pass/no-pass or maybe even drop a class or two. In the meantime, it seems like I am going to be spending most of every day on campus for the foreseeable future.
As for other things, I went to a Morningwood concert some time in the distant past. Sean got free tickets and so I went with him to go check it out. Apparently we were lucky the concert was not cancelled being that their drummer had some sort of nasty infection or another and was undergoing surgery in Phoenix. Altogether the concert was fun. The lead singer was..., energetic. Among other things, at one point during the concert she handcuffed herself to a random dude in the audience, jumped on him and began humping vigorously. Her father was also in the audience, having been invited to see her in concert. The music was fun, poppy, rocky stuff. Altogether the concert was entertaining, though due to the absent drummer and them having randomly found some dude to drum for them that morning, the concert was only five songs or so long. Which for some reason reminds me that I paid like eight bucks for an itty bitty cup of Guinness. That was upsetting. "My hands looked lonely" the waitress said with a smile. Well, next time she feels that way she can shove it up her bum.
As an aside, I found this link as I was googling for the Morningwood website.
I also saw Syriana at some point during the break. This was a Good Movie. I dunno about most people, but for all the talk about the Middle East and oil nowadays, I still barely know anything about the Middle East besides the fact that it indeed does have oil fields. Syriana was a movie that did a good job of taking a look at the Middle East and the people there and how we affect their lives through both political and fiscal avenues. Yes indeed that sounds like a load of hokey, psuedo-intellectual babble, but really, the movie is quite informative without being noticeably biased. Not exactly a happy movie though.
Besides all of that, things have been largely ok. 2005 was a year of learning. I learned ridiculous amounts of things relating to EE and circuits, I learned a fair bit about myself, the kind of person I am, what drives me and what bugs me, and I also learned how better to deal with the crappy times. For 2006 I look forward to moving on and meeting new people, to learning even more from school and life, and to enjoying the last couple of quarters of my undergraduate years. Furthermore, I hope to be more understanding of others, to listen more than I speak, to relax, and to be less judgemental of others. Let's hope this next one is even better than the last.
