| [ | music | | | Paul Oakenfold - Creamfields | ] |
It's already the end of the second week, but here's what's been going on...
New music CDs
I didn't run into any more money than I usually get, but I bought two new music CDs anyway. I usually get Gackt stuff, but his latest offering (Love Letter) didn't really appeal to me. First of all, there are only ten songs, and "Dears" is an old song from... oh, four albums ago! Second, the title doesn't really give me much hope for an album I can proudly blast all the way up. Sure, I liked 君に逢いたくて, but only as a novelty in between his usually awesome rock songs; I wouldn't want a whole album of slow songs (The Seventh Night is hard enough to appreciate as it is). Sorry Gackt, I still think you're awesome and all, but I think I'll hold off on this album for now...
Anyway, the CDs I bought were of the trance / electronic variety. I used to listen to that stuff quite a bit before I got into j-pop, but I stopped for a number of reasons. 1) I thought the songs all kinda sounded the same (it's true). 2) There usually aren't any words you can "sing along" to. 3) You can't really describe the songs without sounding like an idiot. Really, how do you do it? Do you say "It's the song that goes do... do-do-do..."? Well, as I'm listening to Creamfields right now, I realize those points aren't really that valid. I think the listening experience is supposed to be a mind trip, and Creamfields does that great. (Also, I realized how much better iTunes is over Winamp... it's the Firefox of audio programs!)
Blood drawn
Since my mom is paranoid about my health, she took my dad and me to the hospital to get our blood drawn for, uh, testing purposes. According to my mom, my dad fainted when getting his blood drawn, and everyone else says they look away, but I stared right at the needle and the blood. Not because I'm super-manly or anything... it's just that I needed to know exactly how much of my life-force was being sucked out. All in all, not too bad, except for the whole "no eating for 12 hours" thing. I was freaking hungry.
Classes
ENG 301: This class seems ok. The professor is nice but he likes to get off topic a lot. In fact he writes so much stuff on the board, it's hard to keep track of what's really on the quizzes! And although his desire for spreading knowledge is commendable, I wish he would rephrase "Who doesn't know about [...]" to "Who knows about [...]"... you can't help but feel like an idiot when you're the only one in the class to raise your hand, but it's easy to hide in a sea of other raised hands. He grades crazy because: weekly assignments and class participation are 30%, written reports are 40%, and quizzes are 30% - notice that there's no final, which means I can't use the old "Eh, I'll make it up on the final" excuse.
ENG 405: My ENG 301 class is in Salazar Hall and ends at 1:20. This class is in King Hall and starts at 1:30. That means I always have to walk extremely fast to get to class relatively on time! Thankfully she doesn't take attendence. Anyway, this class seems ok, although it was a rough start. As she says, "it's stuff we already know - the hard part is putting labels on everything." She grades crazy because: she gives us the option of 30% exercises, 30% term paper, 40% final exam.... OR 40% exercises, 60% final exam... OR 40% term paper and 60% final exam. She even admits - you don't even have to come to class and you can get an "A"!
JAPN 200C: Same old, same old. We lost more people, and we saw some new people, but there's a good chance they won't be sticking around for long, which is a shame. The material is harder, too... I swear those exalted / humble forms are going to kill me. She grades crazy because: I still have to work for my "A". It would be a lot easier if she would just acknowledge my genius already...
JAPN 450: It was good seeing some familiar faces again, but the class is still hard, and more often than not, boring. I really have to be at the top of my game to make it (I got a "B" on that last Japanese linguistics class...). She grades crazy because: class preparedness and preparation is 50%, the two quizzes are 10%, the oral presentation is 20%, and the project presentation is 20%. No final!
In conclusion...
Although there were a few good moments so far (like today, when I found my watch that I haven't seen since the beginning of the year), it's tough. Even though I'm broke-off-my-ass poor, I need time more than money. And I think I need a hug more than that. (If I can't get any of those, I'll take a bullet to the head instead...)
(...even though he's probably not going to read this.) Others from our class won stuff too, but I already forgot who won what. We're all awesome anyway.
) that I gathered more than a few crowds and met some cool people.
By the way, I found that yellow paper real quick... I was using it as a bookmark for the Japanese book! Though I suppose I am a little lucky that I finished my mid-term early enough (such as it is) that I was able to finish the language lab assignment before 1:00 because I don't think that other guy would have been so cool about it.
