symbolic constant

Current Mood: energetic
Current Music: "The Fire Down Below" by Bob Seger


Prose

Purdue has it's mottos, like "One Brick Higher" (from when the bell tower burned down and it was rebuilt taller as a testament to the tenacity and dedication of the school). Here we are in the middle of a state largely populated by cornfields, basketball, and marching band, and not much else (if you're upset by reading that, don't get offended. The entire Midwest is pretty boring, to be honest). The sky is almost always gray, and it's windy and cold out from about September to about April (or that's how it seems). We're in the middle of nowhere with our red brick buildings and the bars, and that's about it. Studying or drinking. Sometimes football. There's no major city connected to our university, no major theme parks or attractions. You have to drive about an hour or more to get to Indy or Chicago. (I'm comparing this to perhaps OSU, which is really embedded into Columbus). And yet, I can't help but think this is the *perfect* environment for a school like Purdue.

See, the Purdue reputation for academics is thoroughly grounded in hard work. The name "boilermakers" comes from when "engineering" meant building locomotive parts (such as boilers) in metal shop. We're a land grant public school with a tradition not of flashy spectacles or special events, but just solidly grinding down students, year after year. Calculus. Physics. Thermo. Programming. Tests. More tests. Those that survive the gauntlet and the courses end up being quite suited to engineering, I think, because they have an absolutely dedicated work ethic and drive to get the job done and do it right. That's why I think Purdue is a good school. That's what I want. That's what I try to be.

It's difficult. Sometimes I feel very far away from home trying to go farther and higher, but I'm stuck on the ground facing a brick wall. A wall one brick higher.

__________________________________________________________
Random

I started a photo album on the Facebook, but I don't know if I'm going to keep it. It's something of an experiment. Mostly because I'm a little hesitant to just paste all my personal photos onto the web. It can be found here.

This warms my heart many times over. The debate over ID is growing, and I see storms on the horizon.

I purchased the brand new Neil Armstrong biography "First Man" and extra thanks to Jen for getting it signed by the author while I was at an exam.

Received some great mail lately, including a letter from LCpl Kristy Grachek (serving in Iraq), Elder Jason Collett (preaching Gospel in Salt Lake), and a big red coat from mom.

Got a freakin' 85 on my CGT hand sketch exam. Rock the house. I also got a 75 on my big CS project. The printf statements were NOT debugging code, I placed them in there so that you could see the convergence of the trigonometric approximation. Also, my Thursday physics exam will prevent me from performing at the Windsor show. I'm quite upset. Also, Purdue lost (no big surprise) on Saturday to Penn State, which officially keeps us from our ninth bowl game in nine years.

Humor: Staged musicals in class?

Deflexion (a game I must have: it's Egyptian chess with lasers)

/***********************************************************************************/
Halloween with the Ship of Fools

I was MC again for Friday night improv (honestly, that one needs a lot of work and practice), and there were lots of costumes:

*Ashley went as Roadkill Squirrel
*Andy as the Cursar
*Scott as "Superfan for the Swedish National UEFA Team in 2000"
*Benji as Cavity Sam
*John went "the internet"
which made a Peer-to-Peer network with
*Paul as Wikipedia (complete with markers so you can edit the entries)
*other costumes included "a Ship of Fools member", some crazy baseball fan, Joey as a Level 3 Joey (D&D sheet included), Peter Griffin, Kermit the Frog, and an ex-Delphi employee

And I went dressed as Benji. Now, many of you might think that I simply added some of John's lensless glasses and that was all, but no. I did an in-depth character study, so I added glasses, and made sure not to wear a shirt under my polo (more data is needed on this phenomenon, and may warrant further study). I also practiced Benji's signature glasses maneuver, his catchphrase to make fun of CS ("else if for"), tried to perform a card trick, and even removed my shirt at improv. My tribute to one of my best improv friends who keeps me on track both on and off the court (...stage?) by giving me advice, consoling me after exams, relationship tips, and just being a great friend. My tribute to Benji also included acting like a general stud, flirting with everybody (and I do mean everybody) all night.

After improv and the workshop (where I got to experience Three Things from the audience for the first time in, oh, a semester?) where we worked on mime and gibberish games and lots of new people did very well, we adjourned to Ashley's new domicile to have our Halloween party.

Boy howdy, do those Fools know how to party. Even though Stu and Spanke were the only *really* drunk ones, we (Fools and fans) all were cheering, laughing, and singing anything from Rockapella to showtunes to cartoon theme songs (my Newsies duet with Spanke turned some heads). Played some Euchre and continued to be Benji all night long. It was the best Halloween I've had in a long time, and much better than last year.

(See some other Foolish thoughts and photos with Paul and Scott's posts. *update* And the sexiest costume idea ever, Benji himself)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Survey

Sarah tagged me to do this, and I wasn't going to, but she made a special Halloween cupcake just for me, and even drove out to Hillenbrand to deliver it, so I'll bust it out.

9 Things I don't know about myself, but wish I did.

1. I don't know what I'm most afraid of.

2. I don't know where I'm living this summer, or where I should, or who with.

3. I don't know if I can really make it into Aero engineering (they've accepted me and I can stay if my grades work out this semester).

4. If I don't, what will I do? Keep trying, or just try a different engineering?

5. What area of aero would I specialize in? Aerodynamics? Design? Dynamics and Control? Propulsion? Structures?

6. I'll probably be here 5 years anyway- should I go for a minor? Spread out my courses to make it *slightly* easier?

7. Will any company want me to work for them? Boing? Lockheed Martin? NASA? Perhaps some X-Prize corporation?

8. How the hell am I going to pay for all of this?

9. Am I doing too much? Should I cut back on some things to make time for others?