I think I've swallowed the egg in terms of work for this quarter: seminar paper is turned in, midterms are over, cow's in the barn for my final project in English 405. Except not really: next week I have a final on Friday, a Christmas party to plan for Thursday night, an outreach event on Saturday, final project due Monday, final exam and take-home exam all on Tuesday.
But all that matters not, for tomorrow I go...to CABO SAN LUCAS. Don't be surprised if I go parasailing into the sunset, never to return.
I am not condoning jumping into Mirror Lake, but I have to say it.
I SAW BEANIE WELLS!!!
I was not able to see this live, but that's okay.
I don't know if I've ever been so starstruck. Except maybe the time I met Bill Nye. Which makes no sense because I don't even care THAT much about football and I'm frankly kind of relieved that the season is over because that means I don't have to help host a football party every other weekend. But in the end, GO BUCKS ALL THE WAY!
I sort of wish I cared enough about Beat Michigan Week to have any desire to participate in any of the *festivities* but honestly it is so cold and I am up to my ears in schoolwork that banking my emotional well-being on a game of pigskin seems rather unwise.
I had vaguely considered jumping in Mirror Lake as a senior year hoorah, but that was last week when the temperature was still in the 60s. And before my friend told me about the lab work his microbiology class did on the Mirror Lake water...
But in any case, I'll be down there tomorrow night with Chi Alpha handing out free hot chocolate to those who have less common sense than I do. I figure I should at least go see it once in my time here.
Today from 11am-1pm OSU Serving With Honor is putting on the Empty Bowls event where students can buy a bowl for a donation of $10. They also receive soup, bread, and a drink for their donation. All funds raised go to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank to help fight hunger in Franklin County. My high school participated in a similar project every year, with the Pottery Crew lending their skills to making some pretty nice bowls for sale. All this makes me really want to take ceramics spring quarter, but that will depend on whether I can make all the content course substitutions I want for my master's in education. So I could have anywhere from one to three classes that I actually need to take spring quarter. Boo...
The title of this post refers to the two ways your grade in a class can die.
Death by a thousand paper cuts: Between weekly quizzes and homework assignments, discussion problems, lab reports, cleanliness points, and the ever-popular "participation grade," there are a million ways for you to earn but also lose points. The danger of having a class structured this way is that you tend to ignore the 0.5-point lost here and the 0.75-point lost there, until the law of subtraction catches up with you and suddenly you are out half a letter grade. Examples of this in my academic history include: Chemistry 245, 246 (organic labs), Microbiology 520 (laboratory portion), English 405 (Carmen-based science writing course)
Guillotine: You have two, maybe three, exams in which to prove your mastery of the course content. One of them has just passed. You got a 75. (This situation being PURELY hypothetical, of course.) This happens more the higher your course number. Examples of this include PCMB 432 (Plant Physiology) and Mol Gen 607 (Cell Biology).
Sometimes I wonder why I didn't just major in general biology rather than specialize in molecular genetics. I thought that entomology and plant biology would be horribly boring, but it turns out I need some of those classes for my teacher certification content anyway. Why, why, why. I used to be able to say that I found it fascinating, which I do, but not enough to compensate for the damage I am about to do my GPA and sanity.
So just in case you live under a rock and my blog is your only window to the outside world, America has elected its first black president, Mr. Barack Obama.
In other history-making news, it has been over 70 degrees in central Ohio for the past three days. Yes, it is November, no, the weather did not get the memo. As a result you see students wearing intriguing and innovative combinations of gym shorts and Ugg boots, trench coats and flip-flops, in this unprecedented spate of meteorological shenanigans...oh wait, it's always this crazy in Columbus.
So this entry will be huge, so I'll put most of it in the extended entry. Chicago is the nearest BIG city, which is why it was the site of my JEOPARDY! audition this weekend. There is also gobs of good shopping all around downtown, although the 10.5% (&#@!) sales tax really put a damper on my purchases (that, and the Christmas sales haven't really started yet). A lot of OSU graduates (and Ohio students in general) wind up in Chicago for work; I have a friend who graduated last year working there now and another friend in my year who is going there for an internship winter quarter. I'm not sure I'd like to live there, but it's certainly a lot of fun to visit. Plus it is literally about 45 minutes flying time away, closer than New York or Philadelphia, and without any of that slightly weird East Coast vibe. (No offense to the East Coast, of course, but Midwest is Midwest!)
I probably can't stay overnight at any of the OSU museums, but it might be fun to try! I did a search on OSU's website for "museum" and here's what I came up with:
This year OSU revamped its main web site to incorporate some new interactive social media features like the tag cloud and news feeds. Another feature is the O-H-I-O page which invites students (or anyone, really) to submit pictures of the O-H-I-O cheer done in various places around the world. For a day or two my picture was up on the front page of the Future Students web page! You can see it and all the other photos here.
In mid-July I jettisoned my entire fall quarter schedule when I saw this class being offered. The class is titled, "Writing About Science" and it is a welcome break from the hair-tearing of my other classes. (No quizzes! No midterms! No final!) It is also possibly the most practical of my classes; it has helped me read my science textbooks and articles more efficiently and (hopefully) communicate more clearly with my biology tutees down at COSI. I'd definitely consider this as a career, maybe for when I retire from teaching. (Because I just can't seem to cut myself a break...my next to last quarter schedule still has...18 hours. What am I, a sophomore?!)
Is it normal for homecoming to be mostly meaningless until senior year, when I am on the verge of leaving the place that has been home to me for the past four years? The same sort of thing happened in high school, now that I think about, but high school homecoming is more about dresses, dinners, and drama, rather than school spirit.
This year I actually knew enough about the homecoming court to cast an educated vote for two classmates I have had the privilege of knowing through OSU's honorary system. Hope they win! I may also participate in the Stefanie Spielman Step Stride Swim next Sunday.
On issues such as abortion, gay marriage and religion, college students shift noticeably to the left from the time they arrive on campus through their junior year, new research shows.
The reason, according to UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, isn't indoctrination by left-leaning faculty members but rather the more powerful influence of fellow students. And, at most colleges, left-leaning peer groups are more common than conservative ones.
After college, students -- particularly women -- move somewhat back to the right politically. [read more]
I'd say I've moved left in my overall political leanings, but that's not really saying much since I used to be right of Rush Limbaugh. I don't think my professors had anything to do with it, since most of them know better than to mention politics in class and I am distinctly unimpressed with grandstanding of any persuasion. As for the current election, Obama is hitting central Ohio much harder than McCain, though the Republican ticket is certainly not without its supporters on campus.
The Oval was a hotbed of activity today, with Guitar Hero World Tour, the Obama campaign, capital punishment protesters, crazy Oval preacher, and some sort of weather balloon all making an appearance. Maybe 60s style activism is dead, but that doesn't mean people don't care.
On Thursday (10/9) Mary Robinson came to the Wexner Center for a discussion with Fred Andrle (host of WOSU 820's radio program, Open Line) about women and international policy. Ms. Robinson is the former president of Ireland and is currently one of the Elders, a group of world leaders working toward peace, equity, and sustainability. She also shares my birthday!
Large colleges like OSU attract a lot of big-name visitors, from entertainers to researchers. Here's a list of people I've seen or met in my time here:
-Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys, on which the movie October Sky is based
-Bill Nye the Science Guy
-Kathy Sullivan, former astronaut and COSI director, current director of the Battelle Center for Mathematics and Science Education Policy at The Ohio State University’s John Glenn School of Public Affairs
-Al Gore, former vice president and director of An Inconvenient Truth
-Lonnie Thompson, OSU researcher who was recently named one of TIME magazine's "Heroes of the Environment" for 2008
-Leo Paquette, my o-chem professor who synthesized dodecahedrane
-Kathleen Sandman, my microbio lab prof who helped discovered histones in archaea
-and a plethora of other faculty who are truly distinguished in their own right; it's always a little trippy to pick up a paper or even a textbook written by someone who lectures you three times a week!
I was at a Global Health Initiative meeting today and as discussion turned to organizational housekeeping stuff, I was struck by the sudden thought, "I don't have time for this kid stuff." GHI is not alone in receiving my spinster grumblings (nor does it really merit them...I think their purpose is quite noble and their members dedicated). But I have slowly shed nearly all of my student organization associations through the years. Granted, I have substituted other non-university affiliated activities so I'm really no less busy, but I am rapidly feeling greater disconnect from undergraduate life as I hurtle toward graduation. This is probably a common occurrence, as many older students opt for different (usually more lucrative) ways to engage their time not spent in class. I am still involved with the groups and activities that matter most to me, so I don't really miss the peripheral ones, but being more and more of an "outsider" does feel a little odd.
Columbus Metropolitan Library rated #1 in the country
OSU's Main Library may be closed (scheduled to reopen Summer 2009), but Columbus Metropolitan Library was just rated #1 in the country. Full story here.
I love libraries even more than I love bookstores, because the books in the library are FREE! I actually liked the old Main Library a lot, despite the labyrinthine stairwells and winding stacks. In fact, I think the mishmash was part of its charm, because I am one of those people who could very happily get lost for weeks in a building full of books (see also: The Book Loft). The new library looks pretty nice already, but who knows if I will even be around to enjoy it.
This reminds me, I need to renew my Worthington Libraries card.
P.S. I finished The Brothers Karamazov right before school started. So that only took me like...nine months.
1) I'm featured in on on this Lantern article on Buckeyes Blog.
2) I'm going to try and be a fit model for Victoria's Secret next Thursday. Received this job ad from the College of Education and Human Ecology listserv.
3) I passed the Jeopardy! online test and have been invited to Chicago for an audition November 2. (AHH!!!)
Maybe I should drop out of school right now, if these other money-making enterprises turn out to be sufficiently lucrative. :P (I do NOT condone dropping out of college by any means!) Except I am soooooo close to my diploma that it would be ridiculously foolish to give up now.
What do you do when you find yourself next to the dean of your college in the RPAC locker room, wearing nothing but underwear? (Both of you)
A) Awkwardly say hello, praying she'll know who you are
B) Hope she'll recognize you and say hello first
C) Hide in the shower until she's gone
D) Consider doing all of the above and end up adopting locker-room tunnel vision like everyone else and get dressed in determined silence.
With exactly five weeks to go before the presidential election, it seems like campus has become prime stomping ground for get-out-the vote campaigns. Obama has an office on High Street (which, incidentally, is in the former storefront we wanted to get as Chi Alpha's office last year) and various tables set up around campus to register voters. McCain was in Columbus yesterday at Capital University (Lantern article, Dispatch article). USG itself put out an e-mail reminding students to register and apply for absentee ballots before the deadline next Monday. Personally I haven't had time to research the candidates, and I am honestly a little jaded about the American political process in general, but I do feel it is my civic duty and privilege to vote (this being my first presidential election), so I will do the best I can to vote conscientiously.
Apartment: Love love love it. It is quiet and supremely conveniently located (though I will not divulge where that is, as I am not a fan of stalking!) Lots of space and well worth the extra $120 in rent. Pics here.
Classes: So far, so good. 3:1 male to female professor ratio, at least until Dr. Park takes over my Mol Gen 607 class, which looks to be my hardest class.
Red Tape: Update from this disgruntled post...I've got my money back and should not have any trouble graduating on time. Now if they give me any more trouble...wanna fight?!
Chi Alpha: I am leading the international student ministry team, with exactly no idea what I'm supposed to be doing, but it will be fun anyway. We're hoping to pull together an event for next Monday at Jones Tower, but I have yet to hear back from the hall director about reserving the lounge. (See above: RED TAPE)
There is a strange odor lingering around the east end of the South Oval, and I think it may be some sort of glue or chemical used in constructing the new Ohio Union. For a building that is seeking LEED certification, this does not bode particularly well. (I mean, how green can noxious chemical fumes be?) I also heard from a fairly reliable source that while demolishing the old Union, the crews had to take out a mature tree, which leads me to wonder about the project planning. All the "green" features of the new Union will take years to make up the carbon sequestration that could have been done by that tree, if it ever catches up at all. Not to sound like an angry hippie or anything, but it's hard to believe these green promises when the smell of glue is wafting across campus and addling my brains.
1. You will not need your meal plan at all for the first week. Free food is practically falling out of the trees. (Vegetarians and others on restricted diets excepted.)
2. You also do not need to buy or bring any writing utensils whatsoever. All will be amply supplied at the Involvement Fair, along with backpacks, water bottles, letter openers, magnets, and, at least this year, salt shakers.
3. Don't bother trying to remember anyone's name. Wait until you decide whom you actually want to hang out with, and work from there.
4. Send yourself a letter before you leave home. (Better yet, have Mom mail some cookies and your favorite shampoo!) It's nice having something waiting for you in the mailbox at school.
5. ...you still have class on Wednesday. (Plan accordingly.)
It is still mildly frustrating that I have moved every single stinking year of college, but this could be the best place yet. It reminds me a little of Neilwood Gables, where I lived sophomore year, but for one striking difference: It is all mine!!
I also got yelled at from two cars today, but it's okay, because they were from friends. This is prime people-watching and random-run-in season. Gotta love it!
Yesterday we had a ridiculous windstorm caused, purportedly, by Hurricane Ike down in the Gulf. I didn't manage to get video footage, but this person did, and his video also conveniently explains how 300,000 people lost power.
We had a tree uprooted in the backyard and lost the upper half of a tree in the front, and a great many branches and leaves blown into our yard.
The power went out around 5:00 pm yesterday afternoon and we didn't get it restored until almost noon today. In the meantime I played cards with my family, sewed, scrapbooked, (finally) started reading Pride and Prejudice after (FINALLY!) finishing The Brothers Karamazov, and generally did not miss technology (except electric lighting) very much at all. I have therefore decided not to spring for Internet access at my new apartment this year. For starters, the Younkin Success Center is literally next door so I can go there any time I really need to use the Web, and this will force me to consider whether I actually need to use the Net, since I will have to actually look semi-presentable when I venture out.
The power loss and the three weeks I spent in Taiwan with very sparse Internet access showed me just how much time I waste on-line. As a case in point, I turned on my computer to print something out for my Taiwan scrapbook, only now, an hour later, I have checked 3 out of 11 e-mail messages, written on 3 Facebook walls, watched 3 videos on YouTube, looked up the hours and services of Younkin, and not even opened the file I was originally seeking. Dangit.
(Yes, I am fully aware of the irony of my writing this blog entry as part of my attention-deficit, and it kind of makes me want to scream.)
