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As I round out half of my college career, I am already beginning to run into some "lasts" even as I encounter some amazing "firsts." It's ridiculous how fast it has gone by and how much I have changed in two short years. High school seems static in comparison.
Last:
Physics lab (5/22/2007)
Chem exam (5/29/2007)
English lecture with Seb Knowles (5/30/2007)
Physics recitation (5/30/2007)
Chem lab (6/1/2007)
I would be finishing up my last GEC (History of Art 576) tomorrow, except the class I had put for my other VPA can't be counting, so I have one more left: Chinese 501. I'll stick that in whenever I have a free moment, but I'm not changing my fall schedule now.
I lied! My ASC Honors Counselor, Joanna Spanos, e-mailed me and said my Honors H296 (Study Abroad London) course counts for VPA. So that means I really AM done with GECs, woohoo!
I do hope I will continue to have lots of new firsts to take the place of the lasts I'm losing. I like to think that my life is going to keep getting better.
Friday was senior night at my church's youth group, and I went to wish the graduates well. High school seems like a lifetime ago, even though it's only been two years. One of the sophomore girls who used to be in my small group pointed out a hallmark of collegiate life:
"You look like you're about to go to sleep," referring to my tank top/workout pants ensemble.
The thing is, when it's the week before finals and it's eighty-five degrees outside and your room has no air conditioning...clothing tends to simplify, such that pajamas are not readily distinguishable from gym clothes...or street clothes, for that matter. I remember the days when I actually dressed up to go to school, back when that did not entail walking fifteen minutes across campus dodging cars, bikes, footballs, and Frisbees. Now, don't get me wrong, I do make some effort most days; at the very least I'll shower and make sure my shoes match, which is more than I can say for some people. (I once spent an extremely unpleasant Chem 123 lecture next to a guy who clearly hadn't showered in at least three days.) But at any rate, I only have a week and half left, not that I'm counting or anything...
Did you know that OSU has a Lost and Found? It's slightly larger than the big wooden trunk we had in my elementary school...the office is in the basement of the Central Services building. I went there Monday to return a driver's license I found on the ground outside McPherson lab. I sure hope the owner has reclaimed it.
My second discovery is the Digital Union on the third floor of the Science and Engineering Library. They have audio mixing equipment, scanners, Wacom tablets, and free color copying/printing, as long as you bring your own paper. All the equipment is free to use, though I recommend you make a reservation since it can get pretty busy.
This week I..
...shook the hand of Bill Nye the Science Guy. He called me Woman in the Yellow Shirt. Our cosmic connection, you see.
...read Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. I suppose a female English major can't make it through her college career without encountering Ms. Woolf at some point or other.
...applied for three jobs: COSI Summer Day Camp counselor, SASSO Tutor, and proofreader for UAFYE
...learned that I am one of the recipients of the Sharp Memorial Scholarship in the College of Biological Sciences. All I received was a postcard inviting me to this reception...I look in the program and discover that I have won money! Not sure how much, but hopefully this means less pressure to find work this summer and beyond.
...ate kimchi and fern brake for the first time in my Veggie Bepop bowl at Bento GoGo. The kimchi was spicy, the fern brake...woody.
...saw Shrek the Third. I give it 3 out of 4 stars...not as good as the original (what sequel is?) but a little snappier than the second one. I mean, Gangsta Shrek and killer Snow White, what more could you ask for? It was also my first time really visiting South Campus Gateway.
...walked an hour in Relay for Life at Fred Beekman Park.
...wrote 4 pages, or about half, of my Art History 576 term paper on the iconography of Chairman Mao.
...discovered that my mean attention span is 30-35 minutes, with diminishing productivity returns after six hours of work...hence this entry. But if I keep telling myself I have just nine days of classes left...I just might make it.
Yes, I was about ten feet away from THE one and only Bill Nye the Science Guy. When the car carrying him pulled up to the honors house and I saw him sitting in the front seat I turned around and screamed, "He's REAL!" as though I had just seen Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Seriously, this man's show was my middle-school science curriculum, so I owe him a lot.
I saw this work of anonymous public art outside the Architecture School and it gave me warm fuzzies inside. I wonder whom the artist was thinking of, and whether that person knows about it. Did I pass them in the street? Sit next to them on the bus? People-watching is supremely easy here, with a campus population of fifty thousand, and it's mind-blowing to imagine the once-in-a-lifetime encounters that are happening every day. They can be as fleeting as the conversation I had at the School of Art's glass sale (the guy was admittedly creepy) or lead to an enduring marriage, as it has for my best friend. It can be as simple as saying hello before class or forging a profound friendship on multiple levels. With fifty thousand people to pick from, you can definitely make whatever you want out of your daily encounters.
That's why I'm a little sad that my college career will be half over at the end of the quarter.
So today was a most memorable English class. My professor performed all the bodily-function onomatopoeia in Joyce's "Sirens" from Ulysses. I mean he ended class with a verbal approximation of breaking wind: Pprrpffrrppfff. His argument was that the P's and F's stand for musical piano and forte...which I'm not sure if I buy. To me the entire thing sounds like Joyce had a bit too much cabbage while he was writing.
Top 5 Memorable Lectures of My OSU Career
1. Steven Owley, Autumn 2005, English H201 - "I would kill every one of you for King Tut's mask." (He wasn't kidding.)
2. Beth Hewitt, Spring 2006, English H398 - "A Squeeze of the Hand" from Moby-Dick. (Discussing a bunch of sailors squeezing spermaceti aboard a whaling ship.)
3. Pat Woodward, Spring 2006, Chemistry 123 - "An old friend of mine came to town...it was a long night..." (We could tell.)
4. Greg Lafyatis, Spring 2007, Physics 113 - "Now the event is going to be popping this balloon..." KA-BOOM! (Holding a lighted match near a balloon is not wise.)
5. Seb Knowles, Spring 2007, English 596 - "Pprrpffrrppfff."
It seems like alien life forms have landed at the RPAC. I am rather confused by the new sculptures cropping up around the building. They look like dinosaur eggs to me, or worse, concrete urinals. Are we supposed to sit on them? Decorate them for spirit days? Set them on fire after football games?
This piece looks like a cross between a picnic table and the echo dish at the old COSI. Is this supposed to be a living lesson in sound waves? Sit in front of it, have a friend whisper into a matching one 100 yards away, and marvel at reflection? I don't know. This is probably why I don't like modern art.
Mercifully the weather was a little cooler today than yesterday, or we would have had a pretty hot time giving away hot dogs! Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship was out on the South Oval today from about 1:30-4:00 pm handing out free hot dogs and bottled water. We are just trying to live out our belief in God's love and I hope we made a better impression than the Oval preachers. We had a fairly steady stream of people, which was awesome. May is definitely off to a busy start!
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