Living the SLO Life

Mom called today. I've been summoned for jury duty. Whoopee. I'm not sure what will come of this, but Mom's sending the notice along so I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

Today I went to the second meeting of my Intro to EE Lab. I was supposed to have read the lab printout thing before I came to class, but I couldn't understand much of it so I only got most of the way through it. (I actually ended up bringing my laptop to the class because I didn't want to print out all 15 pages of the lab, which Professor Gerfen had emailed to us. I discovered how light my laptop is. I'm going to have to start bringing it to more classes...) Anywho, when we got to class Prof. Gerfen spent the first hour lecturing at light-speed (which, by the way, is 300,000,000 m/s, as I learned today) about Ohm's and Kirkoff's laws and about transistors and oscilloscopes. And I didn't understand a word of it, save for the stuff I learned last year in Physics E&M. But when we actually started the experiments part of the lab, I had things figured out pretty well. I think the point of this lab was to learn how to use the equipment more than it was to understand how and why the equipment works. I will say that there's an awful lot of equipment in that lab, and from what I saw today it's going to be a heck of a lot of fun when I figure out how to work it all. (Hey, I understood the simple voltage source & resistor circuits, so I'm doing pretty well.)

A few of the people from Tower 2 and I went to the Avenue for dinner. (The Avenue is a food court that has Chinese food and a deli and chicken sandwiches and Mexican food, and some other stuff.) They had the presidential debate on in the eating area, and after we had finished eating we stuck around to watch. I was actually very interested in what the candidates had to say. Me, interested in politics. Isn't that something?

After the debate I was walking back to Yosemite, but I passed the music building so I decided to stop by and practice piano a little on one of the baby grands they have in some of the practice rooms (which I'm entitled to do now that I've paid my $10 music use fee). Playing that piano was wonderful. The building was almost deserted, and I didn't have to worry about making too much noise or getting in anyone's way. It was pure me time, which I haven't had in a while. Such bliss!

I forgot to mention that between class and dinner I watched the marching band rehearse for about an hour. And man, they're awesome!! They play all these songs that you've heard before, and they dance and shout things, and it's all about having fun (as compared to Mr. Cole's band, which tends to shy away from anything that isn't "professional"). I want to be in the marching band! I sent an email to the trumpet section leader to see if it's too late to join, which it probably is. But they do learn a new show for every football game, so it might be possible for me to join after the game versus SDSU this Saturday. (Not San Diego State, South Dakota State. That's right, Stacie.) Oh, and yes, I know I'm going insane with all this band stuff, but what else have I got to do? I'm just exploring the options...

I'd like to wrap this up with something that's been on my mind today. Yesterday I was in the common lounge talking to some people when one of the guys from this floor, Catch, said, "Stop rolling your eyes when you talk. I HATE it when you roll your eyes." I wasn't being sarcastic or rude while I was talking...I think I just roll my eyes at certain points in my speech to accent what I'm saying. At any rate, that comment didn't make me feel all that great. And from that I got to thinking that I've been trying so hard to be like these people and to want to do the same things they want to do so I can fit in. So, in response to all of that, I'd like to share with you all this quote, which I've kept with me since I used it as my "favorite quote" when I was nominated for homecoming king:

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because the people who mind don't matter and the people who matter don't mind." --Dr. Seuss

Josh

PS - I enjoy tollhouse cookies, but I can't stand chocolate chips. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, see the PS in the previous entry.)

mood: relaxed
music: none, but the whirr of the mini-fridge in our room is quite soothing
location: dorm

Kevin was up until 12:30 last night working at his desk, which kept me awake. He doesn't make much noise, but I'm an exceptionally light sleeper (always having had my own room) and all it takes is Kevin's little desk lamp to keep me up. I had to get up for 8:00 physics...I was pretty groggy through class today. But by 10 I was back in my room, completing my nightly 8 hours. In physics we finished the chapter that was supposed to be done last week. I hope we don't get too far behind...In music theory we started learning about the different clefs. You know, treble and bass and whatnot. Challenging. Although there were some tidbits that I didn't already know, and we did learn about the alto and tenor clefs, which were previously unknown to me. We have a quiz on Friday. A multiple choice quiz. I should think that I won't have much trouble with it. After class I ran some errands, which I won't bother you with because you got enough of that yesterday and also because I have more interesting stuff to write about today.

What interesting stuff, you ask? Band stuff, of course! Music story the first: I went to the music department office and was assigned a locker. (#11, in case you were wondering.) I walked back to my dorm to get my trumpet, and then walked back to the music building to put the trumpet in my locker. It doesn't fit. My state-owned trumpet doesn't fit in my state-owned locker. I went back to the department office and asked for a different locker but the woman behind the desk refused to assign me a new one until I had specific dimensions of my trumpet case. This spurred a call to Jenna, who happens to be using my trumpet at the moment. (I called around noon, expecting to get Mrs. Santy on the phone who (whom? I'll never get that right...) I was hoping could get the measurements for me. But after a short chat, she told me she was going to get Jenna. At noon. On Wednesday. Shouldn't Jenna be in school? I always thought she was more ambitious than that...Well it turns out that RB had one of their random "professional growth" days today. I'm all for that. My hard-working class of 2005 friends deserve some time off. Anywho, Jenna said she'd take the measurements for me and also promised to drop the trumpet off at Mom's house so she can ship it to me here. I feel kinda bad, though...Jenna seemed to really enjoy playing on it. (I'm sorry Jenna! You can play it at the Christmas concert, I swear!) At any rate, that's my music department administration story.

Music story the second: I practiced trumpet for about a half an hour in one of the practice rooms in the music building. It was quite nice...there was even a baby grand piano in the room with me, so when I needed a break from trumpet I could play a ragtime tune or two. After I had sufficiently warmed up, I went in to see Bill Johnson, conductor (who shall henceforth be referred to by his alias around Cal Poly, "J"). He needs every student to interview (not "audition," "interview.") so he knows where to place them in his bands. I had no pieces with me to play for him, so I sight read "The Blue Bells of Scotland" for him. (That's right. Quarter notes and half notes.) Then he had me sight read a couple of more "pieces," which weren't so much "pieces" as they were double- and triple-tonguing exercises. He seemed thoroughly impressed by my articulation prowess. This is surprising because I don't have much prowess at anything when it comes to trumpet. Anyway, he said I had beautiful tone and that I played perfectly in pitch (we'll get into a discussion of his standards in a moment), and that he thought I was probably better than all of the trumpets in wind orchestra (which is the lower band, below wind ensemble). But he placed me in the middle of wind orchestra because he "doesn't want to put too much pressure on me." And that's fine by me. I still don't know how much work my classes are going to become...everyone keep your fingers crossed! (Although I do want to make wind ensemble next quarter because they're playing Candide. Whoo!)

And finally, music story the third: we had our second full-band rehearsal tonight. I think it should be a requirement for everyone in one of Tom Cole's bands to sit through a couple of rehearsals of an inferior ensemble. You know how you hate it when you spend half an hour working on one section of a piece, and it seems like it's impossible to play more than five or six measures before Mr. Cole stops you? That's frustrating, right? Well, J (the conductor, remember? Bill Johnson?) generally plows through a piece, deems it played wonderfully, and then moves onto the next piece. It's disappointing, to say the least. When we play, there are parts that I screw up that I want another chance at. The trumpets as a section botch a good number of things. And other sections do the same. But they just slide right by, unnoticed by J. Or, at least, uncommented upon. There are some passages that could be so easily fixed, but J doesn't take the time to stop us and point them out. And let me tell you, when your section plays something so horribly that everyone almost cringes at the sound of it, it hurts to let it go unfixed. So, I guess I'll just have to get used to the standards around here. It's funny really. While I was "interviewing" with J, he knew so many phenomenal students, so many musicians that you wouldn't believe. Every one of them was absolutely astounding. All of them. He had nothing critical to say of any of them. You know how when you audition for Mr. Cole, it's 100% impossible to get a perfect score, because "you can always improve"? Not around here.

But hey, 80% of us in the band aren't music majors, so a lot of it is just for fun. And I have been having fun, and I still think I made a good decision in joining band. But I hope you all appreciate the directors at RB, because they really do run a phenomenal program.

One last story. (It's not music-related. Yay!) I had to run over to Sequoia Hall today to pick up my new bedsheets that Mom had sent. (These sheets came in a huge box that also contained two huge bags of candy, a beach towel, and a light-up pumpkin (batteries included!) to get me in the spirit of Halloween.) On my way back to Yosemite I was having a little trouble carrying the package because the bottom was loose. Some random guy who happened to be passing by stopped and asked if I needed help. Incidents like that always make me feel good about the common man. Hooray for random acts of kindness.

And on that note, which was non-musical (ha ha), I'll cease this interminable sputter.

Josh

PS - I think it would be fun for us to play a post-script word game. Every day I'll give a pair of words or objects, one that "is" and one that "is not." And you get to figure out the rule. (Those of you who stood in long lines at Six Flags with Andrew Goldman may already know this game. I played it during WOW.) If you figure out why things "are" and why things "are not," don't give it away. Instead, post a comment with a few of your own examples, which will prove you know it without sharing the secret with everyone. All right? How fun! (I know, I'm a dork...but you don't have to play if you don't want to.) So tonight's pair is actually the name of this game: deep but not profound. Have fun!

mood: pretty content
music: none
location: dorm

Today was fairly uneventful. Kevin's alarm went off at 6:30, and instead of getting to the gym by 7:00 I decided to lay in bed for another hour. By the time I got up it was too late to go to the gym without being rushed, so I just showered and had a peaceful breakfast by myself in the common lounge. (I purchased a variety pack of cereal from Campus Market, which is the only supermarket-type store I can use my meal plan money at. This morning was Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs, which was a nice change from the Rick Krispies I'd been having every morning.) I had enough time to read a section of my physics book before I took a leisurely bike ride to my 10:00 calculus class.

Calculus was not the best today...we're doing conic sections. Remember those? Parabolas and ellipses and hyperbolas? You may recall doing them in algebra II. They don't really have anything to do with calculus, which my professor even admitted. But we're doing them, and they're frustrating. My homework took me longer than I would have liked, but then I had plenty of time to do it, so it all worked out. I'm done with math homework until Thursday. Hooray!

After calculus I went to the gym (You all thought I was going to blow it off completely, didn't you?) and had a smoothie from Lucy's Juice for lunch. I came home, did some homework, ran to the university cashier to pay the "music use fee" (that's it...I'm committed to band now) and then to the bookstore to purchase my copy of the "bandbook," which is like the Royal Regiment's handbook except that I have to pay for it. By the time I was finished with all of that, Kevin had gone to his 4:00 class, so I had our room to myself for 2 hours. I decided to practice trumpet, as I'll have to audition for the director in a couple of days. I tried to be as considerate as I could...I stuffed all of my pillows at the bottom of my door in an attempt to decrease the sound emitting from my room. I apparently was still loud because Danielle slid a note under the door that asked if I knew what she thought the most annoying instrument was. Isn't that great. People blast their stereos all day long and stay in the common lounge laughing and talking loudly until 2 in the morning, but my trumpet playing is all that's annoying. People can be so inconsiderate, particularly college people. It shouldn't be a problem after today, though, because tomorrow I'll be assigned a locker in the music building to keep my music stuff and a room in which to practice. So that will be fine.

The whole of Yosemite Tower 2 went to dinner at VG's, right down the street, and then I came home and found little organizational things to do to keep myself entertained. Oh, and I spent the last hour playing hearts. Hence the title.

And that's about it. I'm not sure how interesting you all find these kind of entries. You know, the ones where nothing out of the ordinary happened to me and I just give you a minute by minute description of my classes, homework, and errands. I apologize for them. But hey, none of you have to be reading these, and therein lies the beauty of Living the SLO Life. (I so enjoy referring to my blog by its title, in italics. I feel like such an author. :-)

Oh, well here's something of interest: yesterday at dinner I became separated from my dinner buddy and had to fend for myself as far as seating goes. I noticed a girl sitting by herself at a table, so I went and asked if I could sit with her. And that worked out dandily. But the rest of her friends soon showed up...and that's always a little awkward. You know, they're all Tower 6, and I'm Tower 2. So you can see that it's kind of hard to break out of the groups formed in the first couple weeks of school. But today we passed each other on the street, and we both recognized each other. So maybe I will be able to continue making friends. Oh, and her name was Jenna (with a J...I asked) so that automatically makes her cool in my book.

And that's all there is. Boo yah.

Josh

mood: worried that I'm not going to get enough sleep because Kevin is showing no signs of going to bed soon
music: guy playing guitar in neighboring room
location: the room next to the room with the guy playing guitar

You're all going to find this quite amusing.

So yesterday I received an email from a Bill Johnson, director of the wind orchestra and wind ensemble at Cal Poly. It said that I've "been identified as one of the finest student musicians entering Cal Poly this fall." And it asked me to come and visit Bill Johnson in his office on Monday (today) between 2:00 and 5:00, just to talk to him about the programs they have on campus. And I figured it couldn't hurt to just go and see what it was all about. So I went.

Bill Johnson knew all about Mr. Cole and Rancho Bernardo. Mike White, RB class of 2000, set quite a precedent 'round these parts as principal trumpet in the Cal Poly wind ensemble, as Bill Johnson preceded to tell me. And evidently, just because I'm a product of the exceptional music program at RB, I have tremendous potential to "lead the entire trumpet section" within the next couple of years. Heh...I told him not to get his hopes up too high. Anyway, he described the band program to me in some detail and asked me to come back that night at 7:00 for the first wind orchestra rehearsal. And I figured it couldn't hurt to just go and see what is was all about. So I went.

I got there a little early so the school could check out a trumpet for me to play. The horn they gave me was pretty old - none of the slides moved and it took me three or four oilings per valve to get them to stop sticking every time I pushed them down. But hey, I hadn't played in two months so it's not like putting me on a good horn would make me sound any better. I warmed up a little, and you could certainly tell it had been a while since I last trumpeted. But hey, it's all good, right? I actually improved a lot in the hour and a half I was there; it seems to come back pretty quickly.

The music we played was RB concert band level...you may remember such choice titles as "America the Beautiful," "Armed Forces Salute," and, of course, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (The fall concert is on the weekend before Veterans' Day, and it's chock full of patriotic music...because I didn't get enough of that in Europe). I was playing in the lower band, though, and I think the top band plays the same level of music as the RB wind ensemble (they may not play it as well as the RB wind ensemble, but they at least get to attempt good music). Oh, and next quarter they get to play Candide. Whoo!

As I sat there at the end of the back row, I felt pretty good. Band has been something very dear to me (not necessarily the trumpet playing part of it, but the experience of it as a whole), and getting to sit in a band again made me feel much more comfortable about this whole college thing. It felt like I belonged there. Does that make sense? I don't know what it was. I'm not overly excited about any of the music they're playing (except for Candide next quarter. whoo!) but I liked sitting there just the same, playing along with everyone else. So you know what? I think I'm going to join.

I know I said all the things about how I've hated trumpet and how I was glad to finally be done after Europe. But I do love music itself. And there were parts of band I enjoyed, namely full-band rehearsals and performances. The only thing I disliked was the nightly individual practice and the private trumpet lessons. I don't have to take private trumpet lessons up here. And as far as individual practice goes, I figure I can get by with about 2-3 practice sessions per week - that's not horrible. And while I'm arguing my case, I might as well point out that I'm only committing to 3 hours per week of rehearsal, plus one performance. And it's only for fall quarter; I have a whole new schedule after the winter break that I can add or remove band to as I please. See? I'm not signing away the next four years...just a part of the next couple of months. But most of all, I think it would be good for me to join some extra-curricular organization. I could join a club or two, but that would probably be more just for the sake of joining a club or two. But I know I enjoy music, and I think this is a pretty good way to keep with it. (I still want piano lessons, but those don't get me much as far as my social life goes. I want to meet a new group of people. The people in my residence hall tower are great and all, but I don't click quite as well with them as I might with some other people. The people here do lots of stuff that I wouldn't necessarily do if I wasn't trying to fit in. I'm looking for a group that I fit into without having to make a huge effort. Know what I mean?)

So, anyway, I haven't completely decided if I'm going to join or not, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to. And I think it's a pretty good decision.

I told you you would find this quite amusing.

Josh

mood: amused at my paradigm shift
music: Candide. Whoo!
location: dorm

Did you ever watch that show on Nickelodeon? That was good stuff...

Anyway, just a quick summary of the day's events (because I'm sick of typing from my last entry a few hours ago). Kevin and I got up and rode our bikes to the Mission for mass. It was a very good sermon, guest speaker and all. We came back to the dorms and met up with Kristen and Danielle, and the four of us went to IHOP. That's one good thing about all of this cafeteria food: when you finally go someplace off campus and have something different, you really appreciate it. I had this french toast thing stuffed with strawberries and cream cheese, and I can't even begin to describe how delicious it was. Really, it was a symphony of flavor!

After breakfast, we went to Ralphs because it happened to be right across the street. I stocked up on the unperishables like oatmeal, granola bars, and hot chocolate mix. I also bought some fresh green beans. Salad bars are pretty much my only access to vegetables on campus, so I've been craving something more than that for a few days now. Nothing like raw greens to cure vegetable withdrawl.

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon on my math and physics homework. I finished it all and actually knew how to do every problem. That's not much of an accomplishment for math (we're doing polar coordinates, which I started at the end of my junior year) but I was shocked that I was able to do every physics problem. Generally I can do the easy ones but can get only part-way through the more difficult ones. But, with lots of head scratching and references back to the text for the needed equations, I conquered them all. (Yes, conquered. I realize I'm talking for a paragraph about my homework and I'm trying to spice it up.)

And after that it was a low key day. I just hung around the dorms and talked to people. This girl Kevin met at the ice cream social a couple of weeks ago, Katie, came up to our room and the three of us watched Airplane! (well, Katie and I watched it, Kevin was in the room working on a project for one of his classes). And I've had time to relax and not do much. Which is nice.

But tomorrow it's back to the grindstone. But hey, I'm done at 11:00. Maybe I'll call the people the music department recommended as piano teachers...

Hope you all have a good week this week.

Josh

mood: a little queasy...maybe it was that frozen chicken pot pie I had for dinner
music: The guy next door just installed his new sound system, with a huge sub. Great.
location: dorm

Not much is going on around here today, so I figured I'd take the time to launch into a description of the Week of Welcome (again, to be referred to as "WOW"). So here we go.

The weekend we arrived here (9/11 and 9/12) was pretty low key. Dad and I had driven up to Pismo Beach the night before and stayed at the Best Western Shelter Cove Lodge. I'm not sure what kind of reputation Best Westerns have, but trust me, this one was good. Our building was about ten feet away from a cliff that dropped right into the ocean, and we had a room on the second floor. For dinner we went to this seafood restaurant called Steamers. Dad and I both had steak (go figure) and it was tasty. I swear we had the best table in that restaurant (which was also on a cliff overlooking the ocean). We were in the corner, on the side of the building that faced the sun setting over the Pacific. So hooray for good luck.

I had lots of dreams that night...I always have dreams when I'm nervous or when something is bothering me. (Well, I remember the dreams when I'm nervous...I suppose I always have dreams.) I dreamt all about what college was going to be like. All I remember specifically is that my dorm room was huge.

So the next morning we got up early and had our continental breakfast, and then set off to Cal Poly to try to beat most of the people who would be arriving there that day. To make a long story short, we checked in to the room and moved all of my stuff in. There was somewhat of a controversy because Kevin didn't arrive until late afternoon, so my stuff was already all in the room by the time he got there. I felt like I was putting all of my things where I wanted them, and leaving Kevin all the "leftover" space. But, we got it all figured out. I got to put my TV on top of the fridge so I could put other things on my dresser, and Kevin got the window side of the room. I think it was more than a fair compromise.

Anyway, we spent Saturday and Sunday running errands and getting me all settled in my new home. Dad left late Sunday afternoon, and that was pretty tough. It wasn't very emotional, but I knew inside that Dad was my very last link to home. When he left, I was cut off completely. It was a weird feeling.

On Monday we went to the WOW opening assembly, where they introduced the cheer and dance teams and the football team and the band, etc. Then we were organized into our WOW groups. I was in #422, which was comprised entirely of people who also live in Yosemite Tower 2. I hadn't met any of them before that time, but none of them seemed to know each other, either. After we had all assembled under our "422" sign (which was shaped like Mr. Peanut; our slogan was "Go nutty!") we played a bunch of games reminiscent of "Cut the Pie" and "Do You Love Your Neighbor?". Those were - at least for me - a lot of fun. I'm not sure whether or not everyone else was as amused as I was, though. After that we had lunch at the Vista Grande Cafe, affectionately known as "VG's." Then we met at our "SMP" (standard meeting place), which was in the Yosemite main lobby, to discuss the plan for the rest of the week. We went to Chili Peppers for dinner, a mexican fast food place that serves good burritos. That night was Wow-a-rama, where everyone gathered on one of the outdoor athletic fields and played more "Do You Love Your Neighbor" style games. I lost my keys out of my pocket halfway through it and was worried for the rest of the night, but luckily someone had found them and taken them up to the people in charge and the keys were returned to me.

On Tuesday we had a couple of tours of campus facilities...one was the Disability Resource Center and the other was some sort of career placement center where you could look for job offerings. We had lunch and then went to tour the rec center, which wasn't a tour so much as it was us getting there and the WOW leaders telling us to have fun. I wasn't dressed for the gym or for swimming or for racquetball, so I went back to the dorms and used the couple of hours of free time to take care of some errands. That night we had dinner and went to a hypnotist show for about an hour. The hypnotist had a good sense of humor and was very entertaining. It's hard to believe he got all of the people on stage (who were picked from the audience, and one was from our group) to do the things he did. He said hypnosis is actually just a natural state of deep relaxation, like when you're driving down the road and you realize you don't remember the last ten minutes. So I believe it all. But still, the people on stage were doing some pretty crazy stuff. Anywho, after the show our group went to the Mustang Lanes for bowling and billiards, which was fun. But here's where all this WOW stuff starts to get, uh, interesting. Brian, one of our WOW leaders (the other leader was Kristi, in case I don't get around to mentioning that later), decided that we should have a billiards tournament where the losers would that night have to go to the beach, strip naked, and go jump in the ocean. Danielle and I were the only two who refused to play. It was pretty tough, what with the peer pressure and all. But I didn't play. Long story short (again), they played through their tournament but never did go to the beach.

On Wednesday, we woke up and met in the common lounge on my floor to discuss Granny D, which we were supposed to all have read. Only four of us in the group had read at least some portion of it. The discussion we had really had nothing to do with the book but instead turned into a debate on the effectiveness of democracy (because, as I said, no one had read the book). So hooray for my first academic experience at Cal Poly. Later that day we went to a BBQ at Brian's house in celebration of Kristi's 19th birthday. There Brian and all of his roommates (who, by the way, are all under the age of 21) brought in a keg of beer, and told us to go crazy. And most of us did. It wasn't just drinking the beer, but people were doing things like keg stands (which apparently is where two people hold you upside-down by your feet and you chug as much beer as you can in a specific amount of time). Needless to say, a lot of the people in the WOW group were pretty out of it. Luckily I was driving so I was able to use that as my excuse to not get drunk. But the peer pressure was still immense. I felt like this goody-two-shoes dork who doesn't know how to have fun, a feeling that was augmented by the billiards incident the night before. I wanted to get out of there so bad, but I was driving so without me the group couldn't get anywhere in its entirety. After the BBQ we went to Pismo Beach. It was dark, foggy, and deserted, and there were rocks everywhere. With so many people so out of it, that wasn't the best place for us to be. Heck, we even misplaced one of the members of the group for a good 5-10 minutes. That beach was evidently a great place to go streaking, because a bunch of people took all of their clothes off and went swimming. It was absolutely insane. I wanted to be home with my parents and my mellow, rational friends. But I couldn't. That night scared the heck out of me. It was so stereotypical of college kids. I was expecting to find things like that, but it seemed like everyone in the group was enjoying it. I was worried that everyone out there was at Cal Poly to party, and that I would never find someone like myself who prefers a good game of Monopoly to a beer keg and a bunch of sorority girls. In fact, I'm still looking for those people now, and I'm still worried that I won't find a group of people I can love as much as my friends back at home.

Thursday and Friday weren't as bad. There were more tours of campus facilities, and presentations on things like sexual assault and drug and alcohol abuse. On Thursday night we went to a showing of "Slam Poetry," which was a mix of poetry, music, and comedy that was actually entertaining but slightly too long. Friday night was the big rock concert that everyone went to. This concert is of the kind where everyone dances and moshes and whatever the heck else they do. Two people had to be carried out unconscious. Yeah, this concert wasn't really my thing, and by Friday night I was so sick of doing stuff I had absolutely no desire to do just so I could fit in that I decided to stay home and do my laundry. The quiet and deserted dorms were welcome after a week of everything happening at once. But again, I felt horrible. How would you feel when everyone was at this awesome rock concert and you were in your room pairing your socks?

And that was the Week of Welcome. Everyone I had talked to before I came here said WOW was the best week ever, and that I would have so much fun. Well, I didn't really. WOW had its moments, but there were so many uncomfortable situations that were almost impossible to bear. I'd still advise people in my position to do WOW so they could get to know the people they'll be living with for the next year, but I certainly wouldn't tell them that it'll be the best week of their lives. It certainly wasn't the best of mine.

So, the moral is, appreciate what you have while you have it. I didn't realize how much I depended on my family and friends at home until I couldn't depend on them anymore.

I never know how to end these journal entries. I guess I should say that things aren't as ominous as they were during WOW. Now that classes have started people have cooled off somewhat. It's also easier to pick and choose what I want to do, because at any given moment there are so many people are doing so many different things and I'm not tied to any of them like I was to group 422. So I still have hope.

Josh

mood: homesick after having written this, but relaxed because I'm caught up with my classwork
music: obnoxious rock being played from down the hall
location: dorm

I'd like to direct your attention to a new feature of Living the SLO Life: the ability to post comments! At the bottom of every entry, you'll see "posted by Josh : 12:10 AM" (or whatever the time of postage happens to be). Well, right next to that you'll find a link to the comments. If you click on that link, it will show you all of the comments that have been posted for that entry, along with another link that will allow you to post your own comments. That's right: you too can now be a part of the raging phenomenon that is Living the SLO Life.

So isn't that exciting? However, everything comes at a cost, and in this case it's the fact that because I spent a half an hour toying with the features of this online journal I have to restrict my entry tonight to only a brief summary of the day's events. But you were tired of my lengthy rambling anyway, weren't you?

I got up today between 9:30 and 10:00; I can't quite remember when. I showered and then went to see who was in the floor lounge. I ran into Danielle, who was doing her laundry, and that seemed like a good idea. So I crammed my dirty clothes, my sheets, and my towels into my handy collapsable hamper and it was off to the laundry room. After I got my stuff into the dryer it came to my attention that Ann and her roommate Claudia (from the third floor) were going to lunch, and, having not eaten, that sounded like an even better idea than laundry. So off we went, with a couple other guys whose names I haven't learned yet (I'm not so great with names) to the Light House. Light House is the all-you-can-eat buffet down in the University Union. It was quite exciting because they still had eggs and sausage even though it was lunch time. (I need to have breakfast food be the first thing I eat every day, regardless of the time I finally get out of bed.) I sure got my money's worth out of that buffet; I think I was hungry from playing so much racquetball yesterday. Anywho, we went back to the dorms where a group of people had decided to go to the beach. So that's what we did. (Now I know you're thinking, "But Josh, what about the clothes you had in the dryer?!" I had just enough time to get them and put them away, although I did have to run (and pay for) two cycles to dry them because the dryer decided to be wimpy. Oh well.) We spent a few hours at Pismo Beach, where I didn't go into the water (because it was freezing) but did get involved in a few games of beach volleyball. And I'm actually getting to the point where I can place my shots and not screw up every time. So hooray. After that we went back home to shower before dinner. Now, one of the guys who was hanging around with us all day, Andrew, had to fast until sundown for Yom Kippur. So because he was so hungry we decided to go to Fresh Choice, (another) all-you-can-eat buffet, reminiscent of Souplantation. They had a delicious ice cream bar, complete with both chocolate and caramel topping, and lots of crushed Oreos and shredded coconut. After dinner we came back home, where after some lengthy deliberation we decided to watch Gothika. (Jack, from downstairs, discovered that I don't like scary movies, so he's made it his project to have me watch every scary movie ever made. This commenced the project.) It really wasn't bad at all, mostly because it was in a dorm room and not a dark theater, and I had a seat in the back, furthest (farthest?) from the TV. This movie actually had somewhat of a plot, and some mystery to it. What I don't like are the horror movies where you see people brutally killed over and over again, without any real purpose or reason. At any rate, Jack can't say I've never seen a "really scary movie" anymore. So woo-hoo. And then we went to the main lobby to play pool and foosball. And now I'm journaling.

So because these notes have caught up to the present and because I am unable to predict the future, I must end this entry. But that's just as well because I have church tomorrow. And I'm tired.

By the way, the title of this entry is a choice line from Gothika. Halle Berry was trying to be serious, but we all had a good chuckle at that one.

All right. I'll see you all in the morning (figuratively, of course).

Josh

mood: tired and moderately homesick
music: none
location: dorm

I'm eating a Twix bar. Hence the title.

I'm telling you right now that this is going to be a short entry. And not like when I say I'm going to keep it short and then write a cohesive multi-paragraph essay complete with intro and conclusion, but actually short. After class today (7 hours of it...although my 3-hour physics lab only took 60 minutes) a few people from my residence hall tower went to play racquetball, so I went along. I played with them for an hour or so, and then Kevin called wondering where I was and when I told him he decided to come play too. So when he got to the rec center we played each other and it turned into a full-blown match. He won the first game, and I the second...so of course we had to play the tie breaker. And man, that game took forever. In racquetball, only the server can score points. So if the receiver wins a rally, he becomes the server, but no points are scored. So it's possible to switch servers over and over again without scoring any points. It was a game to 10, but I swear we must have played about 50 rallies. When it was all said and done, I had played for over two hours. By the end of that third game with Kevin, my head was starting to get all tingly and I had a little tunnel vision. Yeah, I'm not used to that much physical exercise. I'm good now, though...just extremely tired.

I'm up later than I ought to be, I realize. But I ran into Monica, who lives upstairs, and she had apparently had some sort of breakdown so we spent awhile talking about the adjustments we've had to make since we got to Cal Poly. That felt pretty good...I like to feel like I'm helping someone, like someone needs me, even if only for a short time. But after a little while the rest of the people from the floor (who had evidently been crammed in one room watching Blazing Saddles) came out, and we sat around the common room talking until the RAs came and kicked us out. And then I came here, and now I'm going to bed.

And that's it. Pretty short, at least when you compare it to what I've been writing the past few nights. But then again, that's the beauty of these blog things. I write however much I want, and you all read however much you all want. So if you are still reading, I hope you have a good weekend (Yay rehearse-a-thon!). And I'll talk to you tomorrow night.

Josh

mood: content
music: Kevin's viola music quietly in the background (he usually plays something quietly as he goes to sleep...it's actually quite soothing)
location: dorm

I can't write all that much tonight; tomorrow is my big day of classes - 7 hours worth. But I have an hour for lunch right in the middle so it shouldn't be too bad. At any rate, I need to not stay up too late tonight, especially because I didn't sleep too well last night. It was hot in my room, plus there was a group of people in the floor lounge until at least 1 in the morning playing every song imaginable from their cell phones. Yeah, quiet hours aren't closely observed around here. Our RA comes in a little after 10 (when quiet hours start) and tells everyone in the lounge that they either need to go into someone's room or down to the main lobby. Then she leaves. And of course, the people in the lounge don't move, or quiet down. I can get to sleep, but it's just a little more difficult. And when you pair it with the temperature of the room, its even tougher. I have some substantial adjusting to dorm-living to do...

I had a new class today (that is, one that I have not previously been to). It was my EE lab. I think I'm going to like EE; I walk into this classroom and it's filled with all these machines that do things like measure voltage and current and the like, and also ones that you can use to build circuits, and all this other exciting stuff. Exciting to me, anyway. But my professor, Jeff Gerfen, has me a little worried. We learned about Ohm's Law, a subject that I covered in Physics E&M last year. I knew what he was talking about (yay for "college prep" high school classes!). But perched on my stool in the back of the lab I couldn't help but think that if I hadn't previously learned that voltage = current x resistance, I wouldn't have understood a word of what he was talking about. His lecture was mildly sporadic, and he spent a lot of time on things that I felt weren't as important as some of the things he rushed through. I don't know...maybe it was fine. I'm just a little worried that when we get to the stuff that I don't already know Professor Gerfen won't be able to sufficiently explain it. We'll see, I guess...

That lab actually ended an hour or so before it was scheduled to, so I was a little before 2. So I went to the sandwich factory for a bite to eat. The line was about 10 people long, as opposed to the line of 50 or so that stretches out the door and into the University Union during the lunch rush. I had roast beef and swiss on a wheat roll, and it was pretty darned good. But the best part was when I went to pay for the meal, I had some cash left over. (When you use a meal credit instead of plus dollars, you get a "cash equivalency," i.e., the value of the food that you can buy with that one meal credit. If the credit is worth $8 and you spend $5, it still uses the entire credit. So when you're under, you grab everything within reach of the cashier to get your money's worth.) So I grabbed a couple of candy bars...and it's like getting them for free. And who doesn't like free stuff? I don't not like free stuff!

So that was what today was about. Fairly low-key. I was able to go to the gym...that's one good thing about my schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays start late, so I can do a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday gym schedule while always going in the mornings. I still need to adjust to the gym here. I'm used to the machines back at home. I wish Dad or Dave were here to get me started on a new program with the machines I have available to me here. I'm sure I'll figure it out sooner or later.

Well, good night for now. I hope the RB football game went well. And by football game, I mean halftime show. (Because we all know it's mostly about the band anyway.) And on that note (Get it? Note! Ha ha! Like musical notes? Come on, it's funny!) I'll sign off.

Talk to you all soon,
Josh

mood: sleepy, but I want to stay up later
music: Elvis - Return to Sender
location: dorm

I'd like to begin by reminding everyone that the titles to these entries don't necessarily have anything to do with what I'm writing about. This title happens to be the first line from "The Elements," which is simply the names of all the chemical elements sung to the tune of "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General." And yes, I do know all the rest of them. I recently sung them (sang them?) - while playing piano - in the Yosemite Hall Talent Show. It sounds dorky, but people seemed to enjoy it all the same.

I had some very good luck today. I have to start quite a while back in time for you to get the whole story, so this may take awhile. But you can read faster than I can type, so just be thankful for that.

So here goes: I'm taking 14 credits, right? Okay. But I had originally planned on taking 16. There's this industrial and manufacturing engineering (IME) class that I have to take as a support course, but by the time I got to register back at the end of July it had already filled up. So I tried to "crash" it, which is the process of going to the first class and hoping that other people who are already enrolled in the class don't show up so you can take their spot. Well, I went to the class on Monday and again yesterday, but to no avail. So my schedule is left with only 14 credits. My original thought on the situation was, "It's my first quarter in college; I'm still adjusting; There's no need to push myself right now." But having gone to physics, calculus, and music theory and finding them unintimidating, and also printing out the syllabus for my intro to electrical engineering ("electrical engineering" shall henceforth be referred to by the acronym "EE", pronounced "double E") and finding the curriculum to contain "competency in the use of email the world wide web, the library, etc.; review of high-school mathematics; and professional ethics, I decided that my 14 credits were going to be rather easy. So I set out to find another class to take. Most of the things required for my degree have a lot of prerequisites, except for one class: Political Science 111. This class satisfies GE area D1, political science. Normally, I'd have to take a 4-credit class on American and California government, POLS 112. But my AP Gov test allows me to take the 1-credit POLS 111 class that only focuses on California government. (Apparently, the university would like to just give me credit for area D1 but they can't because California law requires all California college graduates to take California government. This class is a simple technicality.) Anywho, this class only meets one hour per week so I figured it would be no problem to fit it into my schedule. So I log on to POWER (Poly Online WEb Registration) and add it to my schedule. The problem is that it meets on Wednesday nights from 6-7. Now, if you'll observe yesterday's entry, you'll see that my Wednesday schedule was just dandy. But now, I'm not finished until 7, right? Well, here's where my luck comes in. I go to the class tonight after buying the textbook from the campus bookstore, and it turns out that it's an "independent study" class. That is, we don't show up to class, we only read two short books by November and then show up for one hour to take the multiple-choice final. So my Wednesday nights are still wide open, but I'm getting credit for a 4-credit class. Isn't that great? But that's not even the lucky part. It turns out that about 20 people wanted this class but weren't able to add it to their schedules because it was already full. They had to go through the crash process just as I did with the IME class. But lucky me, I just happened to log onto POWER right after someone else just happened to drop the class from their schedule.

At any rate, I'm quite excited about the whole situation. Sorry that took so long to explain. Long story short, I'm taking 15 credits, which is pretty average. So hooray.

What else is there to talk about? I don't feel like getting into all the WOW stuff right now...I'll save that for a slow news day. Oh I know! I'll talk about the food here. It's actually not that bad. There are around 15 different food establishments on campus. There's a chicken place, chinese food, an all-you-can-eat buffet, smoothies, a coffee and ice cream shop, delis (plural of deli), and some other things. My meal plan is divided up into a specific number of meals per week and a specific number of "plus dollars" per quarter. There are three different meal plans to choose from, with varying amounts of meals and plus dollars (they're inversely proportional). I got the plan with the least amount of meals (5/week) and the most amount of dollars ($660/quarter, or about $60/week). The meals are only good at three of the restaurants, but plus dollars are good everywhere. Plus, meals expire at the end of the week, whereas the dollars last until the end of the year. Anyway, it turns out that I have much more meal credit than I need. The meal week ends on Friday (and starts anew on Saturday), and by today I have only used 3 of my meals and about $30. There is a mini-market on campus where I can buy laundry detergent and toothpaste and whatnot, so I'll have to start spending my extra plus dollars there. As for the quality of the food itself, it's satisfactory, but not great. But at least there's enough variety to keep it interesting. My only concern is that there are no good fruits and vegetables. There are salad bars, but that's about all. I'll have to buy my greens at the local Albertsons.

So, that's about all I've got tonight. I'm sure that those of you who are still reading are getting pretty tired. But thanks for sticking with me until the end.

Josh

mood: thrilled with my good luck
music: none
location: dorm

There's so much to talk about that I don't even know where to start. First, I'd like to explain my lack of blogging yesterday: the internet was out in our dorm, as it tends to be from time to time. I don't know if they're still working the kinks out or not...I guess we'll see as the year goes on.

So the next thing I guess I ought to do is post my weekly class schedule. So here it is:
Monday
8:10-9:00 Physics Lecture
9:10-10:00 Intro to Music Theory
10:10-11:00 Calculus III

Tuesday
10:10-11:00 Calculus III

Wednesday
8:10-9:00 Physics Lecture
9:10-10:00 Intro to Music Theory

Thursday
10:10-11:00 Calculus III
12:10-3:00 Intro to Electrical Engineering Lab

Friday
8:10-9:00 Physics Lecture
9:10-10:00 Intro to Music Theory
10:10-11:00 Calculus III
12:10-3:00 Physics Lab
3:10-4:00 Intro to Electrical Engineering Lecture

I like my schedule quite a bit. I never have class between 11 and 12 and that makes for a Piccadilly lunch hour. (I told you I was going to use it.) Monday through Thursday are easy days. I get home at noon (later on Thursday, but at least I have a late morning) and start my homework to be done by 4 or 5. It's nice to be in class for such a short time because when I get home I'm not so burned out that I can't stand to do more work. Also unlike high school, all of the class time is used by the professors (at least, it has been with my minimal experience with them so far). They teach the whole time you're there, and there is no time for you to sit and stare or do your homework. It's much more efficient, and it is definitely a nice change to not feel like I'm wasting my time when I'm in class. Fridays are by far the worst day, but I'm still finished with class by mid-afternoon. And, because it's Friday, I don't have to do my homework right away. So hooray. There are people in my dorm whose classes don't start until 3 in the afternoon everyday, and I suppose that might be nice...but I personally prefer to get the work out of the way so you can really enjoy the rest of the day. But then, that's what's great about college: you build whatever schedule you want.

So do you want to know about my actual classes? Okay. My physics class is a continuation of what I've learned in high school. Hooray for waves and optics! My professor is Dr. Poling. He says he's been able to retire but has decided not to. But his attitude is one that seems to me to be, "I'm sick of all the crap from these kids but I have to keep dealing with it anyway." Do you know what I mean? Well, he just didn't seem to happy to be there. I've only had him for an hour though, so maybe he was just having a bad day.

Music Theory should be a good class. It's weird to choose my own classes. In high school you had to take an English class, and you had three choices. And for me it was always wishing I didn't have to take any of them. But in college there are requirements you have to fill and you can choice from a plethora of classes to do so. So you end up with classes you're actually interested in. Gasp! My professor is Antonio Barata, and yes, you have to say it with a Spanish accent because his father was born in Madrid. Wondering why I know that about him? We spent the whole hour discussing both himself and his reasons for choosing our textbook, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory." Interesting, no? I don't know if any of you have ever read an Idiot's Guide, but they're well written. They have puns. Granted, they're corny...but they still make the reading more interesting. And while we're on the subject of corny puns, Antonio is full of them. But again, they still make the subject matter more interesting. The only problem is that he'll crack a joke on occasion and no one will laugh...and that's always awkward. But I still like the guy. Should be a good class.

Now, Calculus III. My professor is from Wisconsin. He wears overalls. Need I say more? But in all seriousness, I really like him. His name's Mueller, but in Wisconsin talk it's apparently pronounced "Miller." I like him because he seems to genuinely want us to succeed. He doesn't think of himself as above his students, as many professors seem to. He's just a guy who happens to know a lot about math and who happens to be sharing his knowledge with us. And that's it. As for the class itself, it should be pretty easy. There's an overlap between the AP Calculus BC curriculum and the Calculus III curriculum, so I should already know about half of the material. But it's still a good review. The homework takes me longer than math homework did last year, though. Last year I would do a problem until I had showed the direction in which I was headed. I got to the point where it was clear that I could solve the problem if I was asked to, and then I stopped. But we turn in our homework for a grade, and it's actually graded on our work and our answers. So I'm spending quite a bit of time on it to make sure I get everything correct. I'm sure I'll learn some shortcuts as the quarter goes on...

And that's all I've been to so far. There's so much else to talk about. I haven't even gotten into all the WOW stuff yet. (There's some good stories in there, let me tell you.) But it's getting close to 11:00 and I need to get up for class tomorrow. So for now I'm going to stop. But it again been a pleasure to write this. As I type I can picture my friends and family at home reading these words, and that's a comforting thought.

Good night, all. I'll talk to you again soon.

Josh

mood: tired (from racquetball. yes, I occasionally do physical exercise.)
music: none (Kevin has gone to bed.)
location: dorm

So, I feel like I ought to be keeping a journal through college...they're the best years of my life, right? But I don't really want to write all of it down. I'm lazy. And I figure if I'm going to type this on my computer I might as well post it online to keep in touch with all of my friends back in San Diego. I've been receiving many emails from all of you (which I very much appreciate, by the way), and maybe this way I can get some sort of a reply back to all of you. Now I know some of you will say that I can't write freely online, and that may very well be true. But anything that I don't want everyone reading I can just save as a word document and none of you will ever have to know. So hooray for the grand reopening of Josh's Blog.

Now I know you're all wanting to hear about the whole Week of Welcome (WOW), but class starts tomorrow so I'm going to have to get to that another time. But suffice to say this week feels like it's been about three. No free time. Oh, and lots of peer pressure, and certainly interesting stories. But they are for another time. So, sorry...there really isn't much in this entry other than the fact that it's the kick-off to my new and (not-so) improved blog. But let's all be happy for that.

For those of you back in San Diego, I love you all and miss you very much. WOW has kept me so busy that I haven't had a chance to feel what it's like to not have all of you in my daily life. But as my regular schedule commences tomorrow, I believe I'll start to notice the holes in the places where you all once were. This blog will probably become increasingly important to me as it is one of my few links to my roots; I hope I can keep it going longer than the last one.

You all have affected me in ways I can't begin to describe, and you have left impressions on me that will stay with me for the rest of my life, regardless of whether I see you again or not.

But I hope I can continue to stay in touch with you all.

Josh

PS:
I coined a new phrase today:
"That's just Piccadilly."
That's right. Piccadilly. It's along the same lines as "dandy."
Feel free to use it. I'm going to. :-)

mood: homesick
music: none
location: dorm