Flip Flap

1. I need to set up google calendar. Then maybe I dont need a palm pilot
2. My mentee is cool
3. Hanging out with Janet and wandering aimlessly, also cool. Free chai.
4. $8 dresses are awesome. I love my haircut, still.
5. Apparently, Junior year didn't exist. It feels like this year is a continuation of sophomore year.
6. Boltinis is cool, and last night's company too
7. Adding "Blink!" to my reading list (along with some blogs.. gladwell.com, maybe smartmobs.com)
8. "Cannonballs" by Elsinore is a gorgeous song. You can download it on their myspace, I think. Listen to it.
9. Social spaces are awesome. This is going to be fun. And having a research blog (Private, sorry...). Totally geeking out, you know.
10. I did something new today. I used my mp3 player while walking to the YMCA for environmental action night. Let me tell you, I did not like it. I felt too removed from the world. And I was very concious of everyone else walking around the quad with Ipods... man those earbuds stick out, with their white chic cords. It was almost like having my own soundtrack, but I prefer when that happens from... outside music, than music of my choice. It also bothered me how much my pace and mood were affected by the music right then and there. It drew me inside myself more, so I didn't notice the people around me. Made me jumpier when someone on wheels rode out from behind (which... in Europe they use bells, to tell people to get the heck out of the way. I miss that.) Did. Not. Like. At. All. But I don't listen to music when I'm here, like I did in Wisconsin. Less time in the car, which is good... less time sitting still in an office.
11. I'm totally spastic right now, and trying to do about 20 things at once, constantly starting things, going back to other things, and forgetting what I was doing. Leads to stream of conciousness.
12. I'm really excited about trying to find a coop for this time next year.
13. I think I'm leaning towards Spain over Jamaica. I miss France a lot... had some cheese last night, and it was good. Brie and Baguette *sigh*
14. I love reading things I choose to read. Textbooks are boring. I forget how much I miss reading.
15. Taking classes I enjoy (and therein, taking an extra year) I believe was absolutely the right choice. Hooray for taking 400 level classes in Psychology for fun! (Last semester my "fun" class was CS, and look where that got me... doing independent study and possibly getting published).

Nuns like it

So it looks like I might be working with Sunah and Aylin for Karrie this semester; not getting paid but getting 4 credit hours of CS Independent Study. Which, let me tell you, would be sweet and fun. I'd also possibly get to go to CHI (if our paper gets accepted, Karrie would pretty much take us along). I might choose to volunteer there, the only problem is its right before finals (April 28 - May 3 in San Jose, California).

Classes don't seem too bad so far - I'll have work to do over the semester, but really no labs. My "required" classes are all really boring - two rather difficult to understand Asian proffesors and one not so difficult to understand Asian proffesor, but nonetheless, class at 3 pm on a Friday is boring. However, some of my classes should be really interesting (and the reason why I'm not going to graduate on time...): Human Performance and Engineering Psychology, The Entreprenurial Engineer, and a mentoring class where I'm mentoring two freshmen girls). I'll be busy, but it shouldn't be terrible and I seem to know someone in almost all of my classes.

One of my big goals for the semester/year is to read more for fun (and maybe for school too, though engineering textbooks are so boring).
Recently, I've read:

Neverwhere
The Virgin Suicides
The Devil Wears Prada
The Tipping Point

Intend on reading in the near future:
Smart Mobs
Perks of being a wallflower
After those two, I fully intend on utilizing the libraries here. Imagine that.

Bravery

Apparently to some people, cutting ten inches of hair off qualifies as bravery. Its amazing, the three other people in the salon were like "You're so brave...". And how. If this is bravery, I'm afraid. Screw ASB, I can save the world one haircut at a time.

SOAP!

Snakes on a plane! So funny.

So, there was very little "relaxing" done in the week in Urbana before school starts. I seriously got back into Chambana Sunday night and started work Monday afternoon, from which point until Friday at 3 pm most time was spent doing PCC business. Since then, there's been moving craziness with roommates coming and going, and moving of bedrooms, and still unpacking to be done. Why do I have so much stuff?

International trips for ASB on the horizon? Sweet.
Rachael will be helping set up some sort of site fac incentive, so that is awesome, and possibly involving Geoff.

Tomorrow is the big haircut, I'm fairly nervous. Pictures will be posted later, for sure. I'm not ready for this semester. Not ready at all. Hopefully there will be more randomness and less whinyness. Its amazing how little time I managed to have to write here, but its time to flee!

Interrupting Cow

I'm alive, and will be updating soon. I promise.

My internship is over, which was bittersweet... goodbyes always are. I'm off to a running start here in Urbana, what with work kicking in and ASB stuff to take care of. So I'll be around, and everyone should come play. Drag me out to play, because otherwise I might break under the load of work and school and everything.