this has got to be the loneliest i've been

MUH.

second day of real school and i already have a shitload of work to do. WHY.

for some reason, was so tired today by the end of the day, i took a two hour nap through dinner instead of going out with friends, shut myself in my room and pretended not to be there. antisocial to the max. i feel old now. :/

marissa and i finally finished decorating our room. and i can't lie - it's awesome. i'm going to be really sad when we have to take it all down. took hours of work piecing everything together and trying to figure out how to hang up the lanterns i got for marissa last year. esp since nothing seems to be able to stick adequately to these greasy/dusty old dorm walls. after windexing everything in sight 3 times over, experimenting with different layers of normal scotch tape, transparent heavy duty tape, hooks, push pins, and heavy duty doublesided foam tape, we finally found a combination that worked.

in the end, we found that sticking a hook to the wall, wrapping the cord around it several times, then taping a piece of paper onto the wall around the hook with normal scotch tape and reinforcing it with heavy duty doublesided foam tape, and then taping the lantern cords to the piece of paper using transparent heavy duty tape to take some weight off the hook, works the best. it looks sooper ghetto but i'm damn proud of all those hours of experimenting and finding ways to actually reach the high ceiling. it's a sure good thing i'm not any shorter than i already am.

my camera kinda broke when my dad dropped it this summer but if i ever do find a camera somewhere, i might post pics somewhere here....or fb of course :>


finally got my summer school grades and was reallyreallyreally pleasantly surprised by my grades. though i held solid B+'s throughout most of the term, i managed to miraculously ace my finals and boost the final grades to As. am esp proud of my hist of modern art final because i needed above a 90 something on the final to get an A- and at least a 95 to get an A. there was also a rule that if you improved 10 points/percentages from your midterm on the final, you would receive 3 extra credit points. though they didn't post any breakdowns on the grades, it was indicated that i earned the extra credit. since i got an 86 on the midterm though, i can deduce that i indeed aced the final, got a 96 or higher on the final, and most likely ended up with higher than a 100% on my final. something like this hasn't happened to me since...middle school. life science was graded on a straight curve since the averages were so high, meaning i actually got a legitimate high A on my final. wtf. i'm going to take summer school all the time now (not).


so this quarter, if i do not end up dropping either ochem or chem lab (a scary thought), my schedule will be generally as follows:


plus perhaps extra tutoring in ochem or something if i manage to grab a spot that fits, lion dance on weds from 9-11pm, and whatever else i decide to do (taiko tryouts [for fun? still not sure about joining], martial arts, IM sports, floor government, neuroscience association, etc). joining other things at this point is unlikely though due to lack of time and the shitload of work already assigned (like, wtf.)

rode my bike to class this morn for the first time and it was incredibly time efficient. ended up getting all the way to north campus in 15 min (half the time it usually takes by foot. skateboarding usually takes off only 5-10 min at most) even though it was my first time and i stopped a few times to figure out where all the handicap ramps up the hills were. 5-10 min passing periods across campus were also a breeze even more than skateboarding. riding back up to the dorms is more of a challenge, though i haven't done that much yet because i'm usually walking back up with a friend.


so as you probably already know, i'm planning to travel study this summer. most likely archeology in south america. the postings have gone up and the only ones that fit my schedule (since i'm planning to take session c summer school too right after i get back) are the programs to chile and peru. now....conflict.

notes on pros and cons:
- peru in general is more attractive: takes place and is centered around the sacred valley of the incas.
- chile takes place in the tarapaca valley: in general a drier region but also with breathtaking landscape
-peru's final week involves a several day 'moderately strenuous' hike up to machu picchu. OMG SO COOL/BEAUTIFUL
-chile involves more actual hands-on archeology - most of grade depends on field work and performance in archaeological digs (makes sense since the area's mostly desert). and i really want to do real field work.
-peru centers more around historical learning. no archaeological digs, mostly just field trips to locations to learn about the history of the ancient civilizations there - grade depends on tests and a final presentation. FINAL PRESENTATION?? :(
- chile gets back earlier at the end of july whereas peru gets back aug 2 - two days before summer school starts (though this i'm not worried about)
-rating for one of the professors for peru isn't very high....PRESENTATION?? :(((

WAH I DUNNO.

oh. and i still wanna bike and build. URGH.