Recently in Class Category

Since you last heard from me, a lot of testing things have happened. I apologize for not writing about it sooner; it's just happened that my head has felt like it's been stuffed full of cotton since the evening of the FE exam. I'm going to blame part of that on not enough sleep, part of that on the smoke smell permeating my room, and the other part on the usual wild temperature fluctuations at this time of year. I'm getting better. I'll press on.

Friday night was interesting. The FE only accepts four or five different models of calculator. I didn't own any of the right kinds, so in my silly disconnectedness with reality, I assumed that most of the stores would still have those types of calculators on the night before the big test, when hundreds of engineers were in the same exact situation I was. Needless to say, after a night on the town and the Juxta concert, when we went to Wal-Mart, there were no calculators. Thanks to Gina, Sarah, and Katie, though, for keeping me in a good mood. Sarah called the Radford Wal-Mart, who had one of the models I needed, and Gina drove us all down there for a last-minute late-night calculator-fetching trip.

The eight-hour FE exam was about as fun as you'd expect an eight-hour test on everything you learned in Engineering in the last five years to be. I honestly don't remember much of it, since I entered the Test-Taking Zone somewhere in the early morning hours of Saturday. I do, however, think I did well enough to pass... but I'll know for sure in 10-12 weeks. The Industrial Engineering part was certainly a lot easier than the "general" portion, thanks to stupid thermodynamics stuff that I don't have a clue about.

Yesterday was a blur, but the Wesley Band performed its last praise set for the year last night. It's been really fun getting to play my bass for more than just Singers every week. I had a great time, guys! "Hands of the Potter" sounded awesome. Best of luck getting things worked out to play more Sunday nights next year!

Today had another "last-time-I'll-do-this" vibe: pulling College Trick #3 to get up really early and finish studying for an exam. That's right, after the Environmental test today, I'll be free from tests until exams! That's not saying much, since there's a load of other stuff to do, but it's still something.

This promises to be a more fun week than last week, as long as my supply of allergy drugs holds out. Look for some interesting tidbits leading up to Wesley Weekend!

I'm getting ready to head out to take the FE exam. That's where I'll be from 7:30 - 5:00, with a lunch break in there somewhere. More on this in about a day, once my brain recovers.

Here's a fun excerpt from a writing assignment we did in Creative Writing class last week. I've been typing up my journal to turn in, which makes for some long hours in front of the keyboard. Add to that a research paper coming up, and I've been basically using all my time lately. Keep in mind that this story is meant to mimic the style of Lorrie Moore's famous short story "How To Be A Writer." Mine is titled "How To Be A Love Machine."

Here goes:

First things first: talk low, talk fast, and say a lot without saying much at all. Before you go out for the night, be sure to check yourself in the mirror at least six or seven times. Ensure your various pieces of bling are clearly visible from two blocks down. If they池e not, stop what you池e doing. Polish, shine, and repeat as necessary, since there痴 a strong correlation between the vibrancy of your jewelry and the number of girls who will look at you. This is key.

If your mom calls, tell her that you池e going on a date. When she asks if the girl is nice, tell her that you池e sure this one is the right one for you. Add just enough sincerity to your voice to make her believe you. When she doesn稚 believe you anyway, say that you池e on the way out the door and end the conversation quickly.

Stop to check yourself in the mirror again. If it is 1982, ensure your perm is sufficiently puffy � somewhere between loofah sponge and cotton candy. If it is 2004, pop your collar and roll up your sleeves. It痴 important to appear casual and unconcerned about most things in life. If you actually do have some sort of strong opinion on current events, this does not have to be a liability. Just make sure the girl is intelligent before springing your opinions on her. Make sure she値l agree with you beforehand, which is not often easy � that痴 why no opinion equals a good opinion. Talk about your car instead. Talk about it often.

My classes for today went very well. I know at least one person in each of my classes, which will definitely make them go faster. And as far as I can tell, my earlier prediction that this could be an easy semester holds true. My second creative writing class may be tough, since I have to write one more story than I had to last semester. However, I think I've still got my creative writing gears well-lubricated, so I don't think that will be too much of a problem. My senior design project is running a little behind, but if we can hit the ground running this semester, we should be able to make a lot of progress.

Now if I can just get my sleep habits back to normal, I'll be set. I've been feeling worn down a lot this week so far, and that's naturally affected my mood a bit. I hope to pull out of it once I get used to getting up early again.

Also, one of my high school buddies, Alan, is an Ebay seller extraordinaire. I haven't heard from him in a little while, but tonight he sent me a link to one of his latest auctions (link is good until January 21). I don't normally advertise auctions, I guess, but I think you should check this one out. It could be very valuable someday.