Indecision on a Friday Night

One of the most difficult decisions that a college student has to make is deciding whether or not you want to go out on a Friday night.

You could go out, but you could also stay in, relax and watch movies. This may seem like a simple choice but it could actually be quite complicated depending on the situation.

The problems that I have to solve with on a regular basis.

College Really Is Almost Over

I am only one class away from completing my major and two classes away from completing my minor...I don't know what to do with myself. That's not enough classes to be considered a full time student, so I considering taking something completely pointless. Like yoga or tai chi.

But I will be productive and take the fiction workshop that would actually be helpful in the future.

No fun for me, I suppose.

PCs Can Be Dangerous to My Health

I'm currently typing this up on a laptop I was forced to check out from the library in order to be productive after my Macbook died. I have no charger cord and the only person I know that has one is currently off campus and probably won't be back until tomorrow. Time will go on with or without me, so I had no other choice.

Okay, so I did have other options. No one put a gun to my head and marched me into the library media center to rent a computer but I didn't want to sit in the library or borrow the laptop that my roommate so generously offered. Taking advantage of the library's 24-hour laptop rental system seemed like the best idea I could come up with.

The laptop is an old HP with Windows XP. It's ugly, it's slow and the resolution is so harsh, my eyes are burning. I don't consider myself a snobby Mac user but this is not the most pleasant experience I've ever had with technology.

I'm seriously fighting off a headache. Gathering the strength and motivation to do my homework is hard enough...I don't want to have to worry about a laptop damaging my brain.

I'm done. I need my Mac back now.

Wearing a Sticker Like a Little Kid

Today is election day and one of the biggest parts of the entire voting process is the sticker that you get in the end as proof of your responsibility.

I realize that Detroit voting stickers are a bit more "accusatory" than that ones they use on the west side of the state. While the people are around me are showing their pride with cute little stickers with a tiny American flag, mine shirt is branded with a significantly larger sticker that not only states that I voted, but asks if you did too.

It comes of kind of harsh depending on how you decide to take it. I guess that's Detroit for you.

Physics: Setting My Brain on Fire, One Cell at a Time

Tomorrow is the second day of my brand new Physics quad. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if it wasn't for the fact that we are having a "short quiz" before we dive into our next lecture.

He says "short quiz", I hear "long drawn out mathematical exam worth about half my grade."

Going over the lecture notes and textbook, it doesn't seem too bad. But for someone who hasn't been tested on anything math related in three year or anything even remotely scientific in four, the idea of the quiz is terrifying.

Trying to remember the equations makes my head hurt in a very weird way. It's not a headache or migrane but an slow burning sensation...

Maybe I'm thinking too hard and smoke is beginning to form...

 

Graduation is Coming...But Part of Me Wants To Stay?

I plan on graduating in May and I just realized something: I'm actually going to miss college.

Today was a fantastic day. A surprisingly interesting class (the history of the English language fascinates me more and more each day), a pleasant conversation with a favorite professor (I learned that its okay to not like T.S. Eliot because she doesn't either), a warm cup of pumpkin pie and gingerbread coffee put a nice smile on my face. It was just one of those perfectly easy college afternoons.

And soon that will all be over. It feels bittersweet. I wouldn't mind staying here if I could hang out, take some easy classes for free and not pay any additional tuition fees...but college is not free and I'm not staying another year just for fun.

No matter how much I don't really want to leave, I can't stay here. But I can always come back for Homecoming as a proud member of the alumni.

Dictionaries Can Be Fun?

I'm an English major so it is obvious that I love words. It would be absolutely impossible for someone who didn't like them to handle everything that I have to deal with on a daily basis. But I suppose I never realized how deep this feeling really goes...that is, until I started taking a course on the history of the language.

When the professor explained that we would be required to complete assignments based on the origin and definition of random Old English vocabulary, I almost sighed from boredom. And when a friend of mine tried to convince me that the assignments were one of the best parts of the course, I just nodded in an attempt to avoid saying something rude. They both promised that logophiles would find the work interesting, but that fancy term couldn't apply to me right?

Well, "broil me in butter and call me a flounder" because somehow, the history of words like dress and pumpkin fascinate me. Greatly. All of the different forms, meanings, etymologies...writing the essays isn't most pleasurable way to spend my time, but doing the research and getting full credit makes it worth the effort.

But don't think that you'll ever catch me reading the dictionary in my spare time. I'm not enjoying my homework that much.