It's been almost a month since my last entry, but it's not because nothing happened. I'll start with this:
The first day of classes
One of the worst days of my life actually began the second I woke up. My first class is at 9:50 and it takes about 30 minutes going to school taking two buses; knowing this, I set my alarm to 6:00. I woke up on Tuesday and I felt refreshed and not tired at all. Immediately I realized something was wrong (because if I'm not tired that only means I overslept), and with wide, worried eyes, I turned my head and looked at the clock. It was 7:55!
Of course, the day my alarm wouldn't go off just had to be the first day of classes - and no, the volume wasn't too low, and I didn't get the AM / PM mixed up... the switch was simply off, even though I made sure it was on the night before! I wasn't exactly sure when the bus would come by (I remembered it coming around before at 7:25, so I thought it would arrive at around 8:25, give or take 5 minutes), so I was extremely stressed. A five-minute shower and a half a glass of orange juice later, I was out of the house, running to the bus stop waiting for a bus that may have already come.
Luckily it came at around 8:45 and I made it to class on time. Now, I thought I had enough time for a real breakfast, so I bought something at the Carl's Jr. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to actually eatit, and with my second class immediately after my first (both having strict "no food" rules), I was only able to eat my (cold) French toast dips and (cold) hash browns at around 1:00, turning a good breakfast into a pretty lousy lunch. And even though I got the combo, they forgot to give me my orange juice - I thought it was in the bag!
This whole ordeal reminds me of my first day at this school, when I took the wrong bus. I took the "480", but I took the wrong one! Instead of going on the "480 Downtown L.A.", I got on the "480 Montclair"! I walked around for an hour or two, looking for some bus that would lead me back to the El Monte bus station. Thankfully, I got on a Foothill bus (good thing I carried a lot of change), which pointed me to another (MTA) bus stop, and I was moments away from missing that one, too! Anyway, I made it on time; the class was at 1:00 and I decided to catch the bus at around 9:00 AM, giving me plenty of time.
Japanese was fun of course, but I really wanted people to make a bigger deal about my new hair.
There was one new guy, and it was over a year since he last took Japanese, but then we all found out that he should have enrolled in Japanese 200A instead of Japanese 200B. He'll have to wait anotheryear, and well, I felt pretty bad.
And what's just as bad as a blackout?
My computer hard drive apparently died right before the second week of school (the screen would freeze during the WinXP startup screen, and "Safe Mode" and "Last Known Good Configuration" didn't help either), which really slowed me down... more than anyone could imagine. I'm reminded of my early days at this school when my DSL connection died and I had to use dial-up like an animal - a problem made that much more irritating because I had online assignments, pretty much taking away the whole "go at your own pace" feature. And on the week my hard drive died, of course, I had to go online and write a summary of the results of an online quiz.
For an entire week I was wondering if I really lost everything that mattered to me (I'll be honest here: my computer is my life), and I set aside the money for a new hard drive, but luckily my brother came through and re-installed Windows XP, or something. I wasn't completely sure what the problem was, and I'm not sure what the solution was, either. I didn't enjoy downloading all those Windows updates and patches and service packs again, but after the longest week ever, I was still happy. I think I'm going to get a new hard drive anyway because I'm really running out of space, here; I have a lot of things just waiting to be burned to DVD, but I'd like them to be "complete" before I burn. It's really limiting my capturing capabilities (where 10 minutes is about 4 gigs), which means saving even moreprograms on TiVo - something I don't feel good about at all.
So how are those classes?
ENGL 401, English Language in America (Huld): I rather enjoy this class. It's all about linguistics, where you learn about the sounds of speech and such. There are lots of symbols to memorize, and for a kanji guy like me, it's right up my alley. Learning those transcription symbols and being able to write them is amazing - it's like using my very own 白眼 (BYAKUGAN!) on every written and spoken language on earth! I almost want to form hand seals before class...
KIN 345, Physiological Effects of Exercise during Aging (Hawkins): We didn't get to see the instructor until the second week, and when I finally saw him I was a little scared because he has a loud voice, but he's actually pretty cool. There was no book to buy so that's a plus, and the course seems pretty clear-cut: 5 internet assignments, a mid-term, and a final. There's also the choice of volunteer work (hah!), or a paper. And since he's giving us the sources, it's just up to us to write it! I can already tell that it's going to be easier than that Anthropology paper (5 pages instead of 7-8).
JAPN 200B, Intermediate Japanese (Yokota): Same old, same old. Love it. Right now I'm struggling to come up with something to write about for the speech contest, and I'm not even sure I can. It might just be easier to try for the JLPT (日本語能力試, or the Japanese Language Proficiency Test), even though it's only once a year, at the end of the year. I hear topics like "My vacation in Japan" win contests, so I'm out of luck anyway.
Anything else?
I saw two great movies: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle is now my favorite movie of all-time, actually beating out Office Space! It's very, VERY funny (even the DVD menus are hilarious), but it also manages to drive a point home, something Dude, Where's My Car? lacked (though I like that movie just the same). More recently, I was digging through my rather large still-unwatched collection of "Stuff From Pearl" and decided to watch My Sassy Girl. I put off watching that one because it's split into two files, both over an hour each, but I am so very glad I made it through (and besides, I was encoding something on VirtualDub that took about two hours anyway). There's no wasted time in the movie, and the more you pay attention to the details, the better your viewing experience. And like with100 Days With Mr. Arrogant, I recognized a few of the actors here as well. The male lead was in the k-drama Prince's First Love which finished some time ago, and the aunt was in the k-drama My Precious Child where she plays a 40-year-old woman (could have fooled me...), and she looks even younger and prettier in the movie!
Currently listening to...
I'm really enjoying the soundtrack to the current MBC k-drama airing here in SoCal: Tropical Nights in December. I still don't know how they came up with the title (it could just as easily have been the title of the previous drama starring Kim Nam-Jin), but the drama is great. I really like Kim Nam-Jin's character (I like to believe I can empathize with his struggles). The soundtrack is great, too. Some tracks are hauntingly beautiful just like Stairway to Heaven (the k-drama), and some are infectiously catchy. Either way, the 1-minute intro theme is just so good... I'm considering making it my "Start Windows" sound or my ringtone or something. I'll just stick it on my phone anyway.
I still have lots to do, and I'm not just talking about homework, so I should probably end this right now. I've been dead tired the entire time I was writing this, and I could always edit this (I end up editing for typos and other minor things anyway)...
The first day of classes
One of the worst days of my life actually began the second I woke up. My first class is at 9:50 and it takes about 30 minutes going to school taking two buses; knowing this, I set my alarm to 6:00. I woke up on Tuesday and I felt refreshed and not tired at all. Immediately I realized something was wrong (because if I'm not tired that only means I overslept), and with wide, worried eyes, I turned my head and looked at the clock. It was 7:55!
Of course, the day my alarm wouldn't go off just had to be the first day of classes - and no, the volume wasn't too low, and I didn't get the AM / PM mixed up... the switch was simply off, even though I made sure it was on the night before! I wasn't exactly sure when the bus would come by (I remembered it coming around before at 7:25, so I thought it would arrive at around 8:25, give or take 5 minutes), so I was extremely stressed. A five-minute shower and a half a glass of orange juice later, I was out of the house, running to the bus stop waiting for a bus that may have already come.
Luckily it came at around 8:45 and I made it to class on time. Now, I thought I had enough time for a real breakfast, so I bought something at the Carl's Jr. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to actually eatit, and with my second class immediately after my first (both having strict "no food" rules), I was only able to eat my (cold) French toast dips and (cold) hash browns at around 1:00, turning a good breakfast into a pretty lousy lunch. And even though I got the combo, they forgot to give me my orange juice - I thought it was in the bag!
This whole ordeal reminds me of my first day at this school, when I took the wrong bus. I took the "480", but I took the wrong one! Instead of going on the "480 Downtown L.A.", I got on the "480 Montclair"! I walked around for an hour or two, looking for some bus that would lead me back to the El Monte bus station. Thankfully, I got on a Foothill bus (good thing I carried a lot of change), which pointed me to another (MTA) bus stop, and I was moments away from missing that one, too! Anyway, I made it on time; the class was at 1:00 and I decided to catch the bus at around 9:00 AM, giving me plenty of time.
Japanese was fun of course, but I really wanted people to make a bigger deal about my new hair.
There was one new guy, and it was over a year since he last took Japanese, but then we all found out that he should have enrolled in Japanese 200A instead of Japanese 200B. He'll have to wait anotheryear, and well, I felt pretty bad.And what's just as bad as a blackout?
My computer hard drive apparently died right before the second week of school (the screen would freeze during the WinXP startup screen, and "Safe Mode" and "Last Known Good Configuration" didn't help either), which really slowed me down... more than anyone could imagine. I'm reminded of my early days at this school when my DSL connection died and I had to use dial-up like an animal - a problem made that much more irritating because I had online assignments, pretty much taking away the whole "go at your own pace" feature. And on the week my hard drive died, of course, I had to go online and write a summary of the results of an online quiz.
For an entire week I was wondering if I really lost everything that mattered to me (I'll be honest here: my computer is my life), and I set aside the money for a new hard drive, but luckily my brother came through and re-installed Windows XP, or something. I wasn't completely sure what the problem was, and I'm not sure what the solution was, either. I didn't enjoy downloading all those Windows updates and patches and service packs again, but after the longest week ever, I was still happy. I think I'm going to get a new hard drive anyway because I'm really running out of space, here; I have a lot of things just waiting to be burned to DVD, but I'd like them to be "complete" before I burn. It's really limiting my capturing capabilities (where 10 minutes is about 4 gigs), which means saving even moreprograms on TiVo - something I don't feel good about at all.
So how are those classes?
ENGL 401, English Language in America (Huld): I rather enjoy this class. It's all about linguistics, where you learn about the sounds of speech and such. There are lots of symbols to memorize, and for a kanji guy like me, it's right up my alley. Learning those transcription symbols and being able to write them is amazing - it's like using my very own 白眼 (BYAKUGAN!) on every written and spoken language on earth! I almost want to form hand seals before class...
KIN 345, Physiological Effects of Exercise during Aging (Hawkins): We didn't get to see the instructor until the second week, and when I finally saw him I was a little scared because he has a loud voice, but he's actually pretty cool. There was no book to buy so that's a plus, and the course seems pretty clear-cut: 5 internet assignments, a mid-term, and a final. There's also the choice of volunteer work (hah!), or a paper. And since he's giving us the sources, it's just up to us to write it! I can already tell that it's going to be easier than that Anthropology paper (5 pages instead of 7-8).
JAPN 200B, Intermediate Japanese (Yokota): Same old, same old. Love it. Right now I'm struggling to come up with something to write about for the speech contest, and I'm not even sure I can. It might just be easier to try for the JLPT (日本語能力試, or the Japanese Language Proficiency Test), even though it's only once a year, at the end of the year. I hear topics like "My vacation in Japan" win contests, so I'm out of luck anyway.
Anything else?
I saw two great movies: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle is now my favorite movie of all-time, actually beating out Office Space! It's very, VERY funny (even the DVD menus are hilarious), but it also manages to drive a point home, something Dude, Where's My Car? lacked (though I like that movie just the same). More recently, I was digging through my rather large still-unwatched collection of "Stuff From Pearl" and decided to watch My Sassy Girl. I put off watching that one because it's split into two files, both over an hour each, but I am so very glad I made it through (and besides, I was encoding something on VirtualDub that took about two hours anyway). There's no wasted time in the movie, and the more you pay attention to the details, the better your viewing experience. And like with100 Days With Mr. Arrogant, I recognized a few of the actors here as well. The male lead was in the k-drama Prince's First Love which finished some time ago, and the aunt was in the k-drama My Precious Child where she plays a 40-year-old woman (could have fooled me...), and she looks even younger and prettier in the movie!
Currently listening to...
I'm really enjoying the soundtrack to the current MBC k-drama airing here in SoCal: Tropical Nights in December. I still don't know how they came up with the title (it could just as easily have been the title of the previous drama starring Kim Nam-Jin), but the drama is great. I really like Kim Nam-Jin's character (I like to believe I can empathize with his struggles). The soundtrack is great, too. Some tracks are hauntingly beautiful just like Stairway to Heaven (the k-drama), and some are infectiously catchy. Either way, the 1-minute intro theme is just so good... I'm considering making it my "Start Windows" sound or my ringtone or something. I'll just stick it on my phone anyway.
I still have lots to do, and I'm not just talking about homework, so I should probably end this right now. I've been dead tired the entire time I was writing this, and I could always edit this (I end up editing for typos and other minor things anyway)...
