catalyst

Current Mood: nerdy
Current Music: "Sad But True" by Metallica

Oh wow. I haven't posted in a long time... Well, today, I slept till 12:45, probably because in the past two weeks, I've been so busy, like I never have before. I think this is the first chance I've gotten to sleep in that late in a while. Anyway, I've been really really busy with lots of stuff.

As you all should know, every Friday night is improv night. Last Friday was quite amazing, for many reasons.

Show: Purdue Improv Club '05 Callout
Venue: Good 'ol Beering 2280
Audience: one of our largest ever, ~50 students
Fools: the boy's club- Paul, Benji, Matt, John, Ryan, Spanke, and new Fool Andy
Comments: The show was a lot of good and a little bad. The show was longer than intended (1.5 hours, not 45 minutes), and for the first time in recent history, Benji and I failed to finish Three Things (we'll get 'em next time). However, laughter was ever present as we were in no short supply of jokes. I actually managed to complete a full Do Run Run triplet of rhymes for the first time! Also, coming soon to our website- video clips of our show. We tried a new game called "Headlines", and Chuck, Fool from the past, dropped by. Anyway, I think we did a great job of providing energy, humor, and enthusiasm for the new folks, and hopefully we'll get more to come back. Spanke told me that I'm really doing well and that I'm one of the most versatile members in the group.
Unofficial winner: This one goes out to our loyal fans. Without you, we'd have no suggestions, no applause, and most importantly...no laughter.

After the show, we headed over to Steak and Shake for some post-show antics. The bulk of the evening was hazing John and Andy ("I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'..."), but the most amazing thing happened afterward. As we were getting ready to leave, a girl came up to the table, quite excited, and asked us (cameraphone in hand) for a group picture because we were wearing matching shirts. It was, as Paul said, "surreal", and after that, she insisted on group hugs, showing us the secret handshake ("twice 'cuz we're white"), and then asked us all to sign her. We ran out of room on her arms, and so I signed her stomach.

Yes. I signed a girl's stomach because I'm a comedian.

It kinda reminded me of, I dunno, those Coca-Cola ads where the guys run around the country taking a camera and recording whatever they find. A group of amateur comedians laughing around shakes and steaks wearing matching black shirts. *shrug*

Anyway, next Friday, instead of the usual meeting time and place, check out the Ship of Fools and the Crazy Monkeys at PSUB's Improv Night at the PMU. It's at 8:00 pm, Union South Ballroom, and the cost is $3.00 for students with a Purdue ID and $5.00 for the general public. Be there.

Unfortunately, as far as scheduling goes, I made my number one priority keeping Friday nights open for improv. That meant that this past Saturday, I had to work essentially from 12-7:30 in the mailroom and office at Hillenbrand instead of going to the season opening game/family day football game for Purdue. Fortunately, I got to listen on the radio as Purdue stomped on our MAC opponent, Akron, 49 to 24. We won, but several mistakes were made that need to be corrected before we proceed. Still, a good start to a schedule that everybody else thinks is too easy. Hooray for Big 10 football!

I guess I'm just adjusting to having a part time job and keeping my priorities straight. It's just football, and unfortunately, I'm always in need of money.

Speaking of my job, things have slowed down. Instead of massive groups of check-ins and tv cables, it's mostly slow days where people want change or to rent the pool equipment. I'm liking the slowdown, because that means we get chances for homework. Oh, and I love getting mail. Thanks to everybody who sends me mail- it totally makes my day. I'm trying my best to stay on top of things, and I'm getting much better with the cash register. The biggest problem I have now is keeping track of all my hours since we're on a two week rotating schedule, and I only do the mailroom sporadically.

I've picked up some other activities, as well. Last year, I started off as a Freshman Engineer, and by the end, I was also involved in Pugwash and Purdue Improv Club. This year, I've added a part time job as part of the Student Office Staff, and I'm volunteering for Fall Space Day (a Saturday to get area grade school students excited about astronomy and space exploration). There's also SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space), and I'm trying to get into Dungeons and Dragons with fellow Fool John.

I've always considered D&D as one of those classic nerdy things (like slide rules) that I want to get into but rarely get the chance. I'm so happy I've found somebody that will help me. I have a d20 thanks to Benji, but apparently I need about 6 more. Hopefully, I'll either fit all of this in and it will be awesome, or I'll figure out what the maximum activity point is (while keeping my grades decent, that is). More on Monday night D&D as that progresses.

As far as classes go, I'm in a reverse situation as last year, which has been causing problems. Last year the front of the week was mellow, and it all culminated on a 10 hour long Thursday with double labs. Now I've got an easy Thursday/Friday setup, and it's Tuesday/Wednesday that kill me. So I really have to start focusing on that (and getting paid to do my homework at real work is something I should be taking advantage of more).

With that, a quick look at my classes:

*COM 114 (speech and presentation) -
Oh dear god.
This class is a waste of my time. The quizzes, the reading, the book. I hate having to "outline" all of my speeches according to some rigid 3.5 paragraph structure. Speaking comes naturally to me, and I'm not even trying to get laughs here. I'd rather spend more time on calc and programming.

*CGT 163 (computer drafting) +
I really like this class. Professor Miller and Gable both are very cool, and I seem to be doing quite well with the sketches. CATIA will probably take some getting used to, but it's the industry standard (another Purdue perk).

*CS 158 (C programming) -
At this point in time, I pretty much don't care for UNIX or C. Compiling? I'll compile you, Professor Crum. Where's MATLAB? (and yes, that is considered blasphemy at this point).

*PHYS 241 (electricity and optics) -
Nobody really knows what's going on in this class, especially me. Gaussian surfaces? Isolated flux fields? *shrug* Lecture and recitation are painful. Curve me.

*MA 162 (calc II) +
Retake. The stuff I don't understand so well, we haven't gotten to yet. I'm in a class with really confused freshmen (which are adorable, for the record) and I really need to do well in this one.


Ugh, I'm already dreading exams. Part of me really worries about grades, money, and the fact that I know a lot of engineers that wanted to be astronauts (just like me) and most of them aren't aero engineers anymore. (work) Eric told me he knows only one or two engineers that haven't retaken at least one class, and some that have retaken multiple classes multiple times. So I'm in good company?

(Amelia) Eric seems to really want me to transfer to OSU, and my parents keep asking me if I'm happy with what I'm doing, if Purdue is really what I want. I keep telling myself that I'm not supposed to love all this work (not that I don't like learning, that is), that I'm putting in my time now. But is it bad that I really look forward to Friday nights? I seem to have serious trouble with relationships? That I'm going to be more than a hundred thousand dollars in debt by the time this over?

Can I really do this?