Hugs

Another You Tube gem:

As Promised

So I'm sitting here in one of the classrooms at MAK, having taken the advice of a fellow blogger. There are no computer labs open on Saturday, apparantly, so this will have to do. Nothing to complain about except for the tour groups that keep coming by. All the wee high-schoolers keep staring at me like I'm a featured exhibit or something. Which is a nice lead-in to the first item in this sequel list of college experiences:

• These people are BIG on tours. There's tours connected with everything. So far I have been on 3 general tours of the campus, 2 tours of the Art building, and 1 tour of the Language lab. This is not counting the self-guided walking tours of the Mak building and LSH. My brother just had his first tour last week, in connection with good 'ol TCTC. So, as you can see, tourism is a big industry here. Some (loosely estimated) 10% of all working students work as tour guides for the college. (No less than 5 seperate tours have passed by in the past hour.)
• The computers, although admittedly several steps above any school-related computers I've ever used, have their idiosyncracies. When I try to log into my e-mail account in HH or Manutoo? I will type my login name then tab down to the password where I get three letters in and it bounces back up to the login blank. Very annoying. In HH the messenger icon is actually a "Research" link. Also, they don't seem to encourage using messenger, because you usually have to go through a bunch of hoops to get the sign-in link to work.
• Flash Drives... wonderful little pieces of technology with an incredible potential to get lost. Imagine the fright of me as I check my e-mail yesterday and get this startling e-mail- Darseylo (notice the misspelling) Someone turned in a Flash Drive that may belong to you..." Sure enough, I had left the silly little thing in stuck in a computer, and some kind stranger (to whom I owe $50 worth of gratitude) turned it in to the techs. Lesson learned.
• Bus rides. *Sardonic laugh.* Actually, I don't find them that bad, except for the highly complex protocol that one has to learn as one goes. I saw the most amazing sunset I've seen in a while coming home on the bus, and it's a great time to catch up on reading or *sigh* homework. If nothing else, there is usually a highly interesting conversation going on somewhere. This week, for example, I learned all about micro-brewing, and the alchoholic content of the different home-brewed beers served at some restaurant in Holland. It was *ahem* informative. And one morning the bus driver lady was feeling perky, and she told us corny jokes the whole way down, none of which I can remember. I've learned a lot about bus ettiquite, and I shall share it with you:

-First, the back doors don't open. You have to push them open. Staring at them and wondering when they will open is not very effective.

-There are times when you can put your backpack on the seat next to you, and times you can't. There are also times when you can put it next to you for a while, then pick it up when you reach the next stop. I am still working hard on figuring this out.

-You don't talk to anyone on the bus unless you know them, almost without exception.

-The Aisan bus driver brakes and accelerates very hard. You are warned.

- If you want to be garunteed a seat don't take 8, 9 or 10 o'clock classes, and don't go home until 8. If you want to be garunteed a place on the bus at all when heading to Allendale of a morning, get on at Pew.

-Chivalry is dead, and all's fair in love, war, and getting bus seats. If you are a girl, don't expect guys to let you get on first, to let you have the seat in a tie, or especially to offer you their seat. If you are a guy, don't worry about letting the girls get on first, giving them the seat in a tie, or offering them your seat. You should, however, always offer your seat to the little (or big) old ladies. That rule is still in effect.

One of my most unique bus experiences happened after I forgot to call my mom to pick me up one night. I got all the way to Pew before I remembered, so I had to wait there awhile. I sat down on the bench, and started to read a book when this tall black guy came walking up, smiled at me, and started a conversation, and he didn't seem to be trying to hit on me. We talked for 20 minutes, and it was pretty cool. Most people won't give you more than one-syllable answers, and that's only if you have a legitimate reason to be talking to them in the first place. It scared my mom, though. :P Actually, the bus stop at Pew is pretty safe- it's well lighted and there are always people there.

• It's a great big world out there for the people-watchers among us, and I get a private smile or two a day from my observations. One of the guys in my Writing class looks and acts like my cousin Jeff- they are both small, have the same faces, this weird "earnestness" when they talk. The kicker? They both are named Jeff. The only big difference is that Writing class Jeff has a very long and girly pair of eyelashes.
• The Writing Lab is a struggling Writing 150 student's paradise. They have free coffee, Kleenex's, hand sanitizer, pens and candy. Plus, they are very nice about your writing, and really do give you great suggestions. A very comfortable, homey kind of environment.
• You keep noticing the same people in different places. I've seen at least 2 kids from my transitions class more than once, and I can't seem to go anywhere without seeing the Language Lab tech. (He is a true computer tech- has a full beard, neuteral plaid shirts, khakis and glasses.) I've seen him on the bus twice, in the lab (of course), getting pizza...
• The pizza isn't that bad, and for less than $3 it's about all my cheap self can afford to eat there, along with soup and grilled cheese. So that's lunch, 2 times a week.
• You learn how to go for long periods with little to no food. I'm only just starting to get hungry now at 1:30, and all I've had to tide me over is 2 cookies on this morning's field trip. Which was cool, but not really something to blog about, except that it pulled me out of bed at 5 in the morning on a Saturday.

But now, I can go home. There is a bus arriving at 1:40, and I must needs get on that bus or languish here for yet another hour. Fare thee well, dear readers.

Campus Life

College is different. Yes, I've been told that, and I understood that going in, but boy howdy is college ever different. Overwhelming, probably not, but completely encompassing? Yes. It has a way of taking over your life that not even primary school had. Primary school was after your effort. College is playing for your entirety. To survive in college, you must accept it's way of life, or fight a very hard internal battle while pretending to accept it's way of life.

I'm sure I'll look back at this and say, "Spoken like a true, cowed, 3rd week freshman." Because that's what I am. Oh well. College is interesting though. I've been learning alot about crowds, and walking into rooms full of strangers. Here is a rundown of some of my typical college experiences:

I spent a week, minus a day, as an Art Major. I don't regret those 4 days of class. I now understand the reason for fine art, I made a friend I think I'll keep, and I learned a lot about myself- about what I'm not that I thought I was, and vice versa. Here are a couple of key quotes that helped me figure out that the Art Department and myself were not heading in the same direction:

• "I just keep a pillow in my locker- some weekends you'll be here until 2 in the morning." ~ Student (I ride the bus, which stops at midnight. I would have had to sleep there.)
• "Words, for art students, are not a very important language tool. I am going to teach you to think visually, and to communicate visually." ~Creative Problem Solving Prof (Reading is the love of my life.)
• "You are art students. You are not here because you are going for big money. You are going to be poor, and you'll probably always going to be poor. You are doing this because you love art, and couldn't imagine life without it." ~Drawing Prof (Whaaaaat? Money is one of the ONLY reasons I'm going to college. I want a well-paying, respectable job, which Graphic Design was purported to be. I can imagine life without art. Very easily, and without much pain.)
• "I don't want to see visual 'triteness'. No Hallmark moments. I don't want to see kittens in a basket. Well, okay, you can draw kittens in a basket- as long as they're dead." ~Drawing Prof
• "We're a family. Being in the Art Department is a Mafia thing." ~Random Prof (All too true. It's Art students together vs. the world, but also Art students vs. eachother. And I am not a competitive person.)

There was more than just this, and 4 days was enough. I escaped with my life, plus 12 works of original 2D design and a toolbox full of expensive and unreturnable materials. Anyone need a set of French Curves? I only regret leaving behind the friend, the cool classrooms and all the easily-accesible microwaves. The Art Center was built to live in.

On Thursday I marched upon the Student Services building, and came out with a completely revamped schedule. Now I'm in Writing 150, Math 110, Geo 105, and Spanish 101. Life is busy, (I've been writing well-thought-out 2000 word papers all over the place.) but soooo muuuch better. I've never been higher than when I walked out of the counselor's office, and it was completely without drugs. I didn't stop cheering for the rest of the weekend.

Oddities of Campus Life:

-Comfort takes the place of cool. Backpacks are worn using both straps, and hoods are used in the rain. The exception being rolling backpacks. I tried it for a day. It was sufficient.

-It is pretty easy to tell freshmen apart from upperclassmen. There's just an aura- a filled-outness- about upperclassmen.

-You try as hard as possible not to sit next to anyone unless you know them.

-There is a reason nobody uses the "Exit to Outside" in the stairwell of Mak. It leads to a swamp.

-This is not confirmed, but I have strong suspicions that the architect of dizzying, circular LSH is the same dumb brick the hospital paid to put revolving doors in the main entrances, and to put no doors in at all between the old and new building. Senseless. Just senseless. What did Patient Transport and Writing 150 students ever do to him????

More irregularities on college life and riding the bus to come as events warrent.

Carefree Highway

YEEEEEEEEHHAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! I am, FINALLY, licensed to drive. As far as I know, I'm the last person in my graduating class to get my license, but oh well. I suppose the chagrin will wear off someday. For some unfathomable reason, I was not too nervous. My stomach decided to take up knitting for a couple hours, but my hands weren't shaky. I was granted 6 points on the preliminary parking torture, and quickly accumulated six points. ($%^&* parallel parking. I could #$%^& parallel park last night, in the dark, without the helpful pylons.)With this not so auspicious start, we began the test. Nothing too serious- the instructor and my dad had a running conversation going about Boeing's new 800 passenger Dreamliner, which her son is apparently an engineer for, the sad decline of complimentary food on airplanes, and also various accidents that occured last night. Cheering and heartening topics all. It all went pretty good, give or take a few missing left shoulder checks, an "almost" stop at a blinking red left turn, and a rather hot entrance to an exit ramp curve. I accumulated only 8 out of 25 possible points, the lady said that at the beginning she had me figured for a perfect test, (I think she says that to everyone) and the parting was made in mutual cordiality, plus one driver's license certificate. Glad to have that done, of course. However, it opens up a whole new area of worry. Do I want the Javelin, or the Lamborghini?
Eiher way, the songs of Gordon Lightfoot are the ULTIMATE road trip music, particularly Carefree Highway. Tied for second are the Beach Boys, Keola Beamer, Lefte Banke, and the Ventures Christmas album. (This last, of course, is seasonal.)