Yeah, so I've managed to make myself busy (well, Physics played a role, but I think that ultimately it's easier to point the finger at myself) so I've just jotted a few quick notes to cover the intermission and lay down here, hopefully in some substance.
Saam, Sean W., Anna, and Charbak can be added to the list of people that demonstrate that Summer isn't really any less crowded than a typical semester.
My ECE professor isn't really getting any less odd these days. Making remarks such as:
"You all had recitation yesterday, did they teach you real kung fu?" or "It's hard to explain some of these things sometimes. I wish this was like the Matrix where we could all just jack in and I could think it to you, and you'd be all like 'I know DSP Kung Fu!' and I'd be like 'Show me' and we'd go into the room." and the ever popular, while running out of the room at the start of class to get something he forget really quick "Today's topic: the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman nor an empire" and yes, it did grammatically bother me, but that another story.
So, Working at MechE hasn't been too bad, I haven't figured out a way to get them to buy me a Laptop yet (they've got the budget, I've seen bits and pieces of it) but they have shown me that Technology really will destroy mankind. And no, I don't mean all the complicated devices they have for actual Mechanical Engineering, I just mean the stupid Copier of death. Not an official title, but this thing was being a royal pain the other day. It was inverting copies (I put in 8"x11" vertically, it prints lengthwise. I invert the paper to be lengthwise, it prints vertically). It jammed every time I tried to feed it a copy through the top, and not only did it jam, it jammed hardcore (5 jams, only 3 of which were real, off of 4 pieces of paper). That said, I've been forced on several occasions to get creative due to the lack of available materials. The room lacks Staplers, Staple Removers, and Paperclips though I chalk this up to theft rather than lack of supplies, but it makes things interesting as I often resort two the pair of straight knives (they really aren't quite letter openers, but I think that might've been the original purpose for them). It's interesting to watch I imagine, me with a pair of long blades operating on the various machinery (I actually disassembled a three-hole punch the other day to get it working).
Relating back to the family festivities of David's Graduation, this was truely an event to make those of the Orient ear's bleed. What do I mean by this you may ask? Quite simple really. Somehow the movie Shaolin Soccer was brought to topicality and discussed. Suffice to say, having a group of grandparents in late 80s and early 90s raised in England and North of the Mason-Dixon Line, trying to pronounce Shaolin is truely an assailment on ones ears. This disturbance across cultural barriers was later compounded by Ian pronouncing (terribly I might add) the credits to Tales of Symphonia.
I'm worried about this Physics test mostly because of the Professor's response when asked if the test was roughly the same length as the tests of other years. After replying that he really hadn't checked, and probably should have, he added, "If the class were only an hour long I feel that I could give the test and while it would be about the right length, many of you would still be here when it ended. However the class is 70 minutes long." Yeah, inspiring, not.
I dragged Jason home to give blood, cause he was foolish enough to actually accept the offer, showed him Interstella 5555 (which I'd also watched the weekend before, but it's fun so no complaints on my part) and had him subjected to both Settlers of Catan Expansion and the grandparents. Giving blood wasn't quite up to par this time around. While the nurse asking questions was lively enough to have some fun with, the actual blood drawing nurse (I bet they have technical titles for those jobs, hell if I know them) wasn't quite so good at it. My needle torqued, which didn't actually cause pain, but it made my flow incredibly reduced and I spent a good deal of time waiting for the blood-bag to fill. They'd gotten a new set of questions on the forms, updated about a week after the last time I'd given, and I had a good deal of fun discussing the possible reasons for the changes as well as why the Red Cross's latest order of plastic gloves apparently had been placed for Purple Colored gloves (yes, they really were, like a deep purple). As far as question changes, gender specific quests now had an opt out for members of the other gender (Ie, Woman no longer fill in the "No" bubble when asked if are a man who has had sex with another man since 1976, but rather fills in a "I am a Woman" bubble), a military personal question was added, and the thing was overall made easier on the nurse to read (the names of drugs being produced on a handout rather than said, and countries of danger reduced to general areas which would be followed up with specifics if needed).
During the last time the family ordered Chinese, Ian's fortune cookie read "Support Literacy, Buy a box of Fortune Cookies."
I was originally going to say something about the decent gas mileage of the CRV and how I'd gone the whole week close to low fuel without actually hitting it, however the little yellow light I rarely see did pop on as I was pulling into the parking deck on Friday morning (which took place on the 27 despite what one of the higher ups at MechE might want me to believe). However, since I'm on the topic of cars, I developped (well, I had these, but didn't really ever have to deal with them) two pet peeves to other drivers. The first being those who sit at a green turn light too long (twice I was made to wait until the light had turned yellow before they finally wised up to the world around them and went, and once only becaue honking was done), the other is specific to the Apartment. It's a gated community, and there are a few people whose specific ailment, be it chronic retardation, blatent unobserveration, or ass-hole-ic nature compells them to disregard the location where you are to place your card key to open the gate and instead roll right up to the gate and sit there. It's quite annoying for now I have to trigger the gate twice if I wish to get in, once to get them out of the way, and once to keep the gate open so I can pass. Annoying as all-get-out.
And, to end on a note of general randomness I draw from the Horoscope from Creative Loafing, placed adjacent to Tiny Sepuku (which can be read online here and includes cute ones like this and this just to choose two really fast. Anyways, here goes:
Horoscope for May 12-18:
(Caution: Information in this horoscope contains references to exotic sexual practices. If you might be offended, stop reading now. I present this material to you because you are in a heightened state of arousal, both physically and metaphysically, and could benefit from outrageous provocations as you rethink your approach to intimate acts of love.) The ladybird beetle copulates for up to nine hours at a time, and males may have three 90-minute orgasms in one session. Bonobo apes are not obsessed with orgasm, but have frequent erotic exchanges of every variety, from intercourse to mutual masturbation to oral sex; homosexual contact is common. The male sponge louse disguises himself as a female to aid his seduction strategies. As soon as praying matises begin coitus, the female bites off the male's head and eats it; sex continues, however. Slime mold comes in 500 genders and at 13 of these have to collaborate to have a sucessful mating session.
Just to think, someone had to research all the information, and some scientests had to have discovered that. Though it leaves you wondering, how exact does a species have 500 genders, and exactly how is that supposed to be an inspiritation to rethinking a approach to initimate acts of love?
