Halloween
It's October 31st today, and that means that people are going to be out celebrating Halloween. I guess Halloween is more of a western-cultured holiday, if it can even be qualified as a holiday. I really don't understand why people would be so keen on celebrating a day that was historically meant to commemorate the day that evil spirits from the underworld came back into the mortal realm. Do we really want to recall those dark and troubling times? It's all kind of freakish, if you ask me. I tend to stay away from such things.
But, as with so many other things, Halloween has been commercialized so much that much of the original meaning has disappeared. It's now an excuse for people to dress up, stay up late, and eat lots of candy. A lot of people just love Halloween so much. There's a house that we drive by every time we go to Scout meetings, and that house puts on an incredible Halloween display every year. Starting on the first of October, there's not a single patch of empty space on their lawn by the end of the month. People come from all over town just to take a look. Me? I think it's kind of fun, I suppose, but still kind of kooky. I think that money can definitely be better-spent.
Then we've got the topic of trick-or-treating. I really have no idea where this concept came from, and I don't understand why people would continue it. One day out of the year, kids are released to go out after dark, knock on strangers' doors, and eat candy given to them by people they don't know. Any other day of the year, parents would freak out over the idea of someone giving their kids suspicious candy. A lot of kids really have fun with it, though. I think it's fun to have little kids show up at your door, all dressed up in their fairy outfits, robot costumes, and even the occasional alien and skeleton. But once you get out of elementary school age, the whole thing kind of loses its charm. Why would I want to give good chocolate out to a 17 year-old? Don't they have anything better to do on a Tuesday evening? Like study? It's a school night!
This whole phenomena is definitely a western culture, though. I suppose most people around the world know what Halloween
is, but other than some places in Europe and North America, I've never heard of anybody practicing it. Apparently that hasn't gotten into the heads of some people, though. When I lived in Malaysia, we lived in a house that was across the street from an apartment complex. That complex was full of a lot of expatriate families, many of them fairly wealthy families from the US, that happened to have some big-wig job in South East Asia. I don't know who's idea it was, but someone decided to let loose their children to go trick-or-treating. In Malaysia. It just so happens that all houses in Malaysia have large gates at the end of the driveways, almost like large estates. Every house had one, though, even if it was a row of link houses. So this group of expatriate kids come up to the gate, press the door bell, and yell "TRICK OR TREAT" at the top of their lungs. Every single house just gave them a weird look and walked away. Really, I don't know whether to laugh or to pity them.
I've never been trick-or-treating, though. We never celebrated Halloween, and never did anything that was related to it. In fact, when I was really young, October 31st was not our favorite day. October 31st was the day that we went out to eat a very early dinner, came home (no dirty dishes to wash, you see), turned off all the lights, and went to bed by 6 pm. This guaranteed that any trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood would skip over our house. It worked, too.
thinkandrew
Grades and Colds
It seems that society has decided that anything and everything that we do must be judged by other people. I suppose there's nothing really wrong with that, though certain standards can be impossible to meet. In the case of school and classes, though, such grading is essential. And in many cases, I believe that the standards are too low. Why, is it, that for my Physics class, the average score was 95 out of 125 in the past two tests? Are people just not studying? I don't think people really realize that what they are doing now could affect their opportunities for universities or even careers later on in their lives. You're in college now, you really have to start taking things seriously.
Of course, I have to put actions to my words. This past Physics test was one that I really felt very good about, and was pretty excited about as well. Math and Sciences have always come somewhat easily to me, and I'm trying to take full advantage of that as I study at SPSCC. We normally have the entire class period to take whatever tests our teachers give us, and I normally use up the full amount of time provided. After all, if you've got the time, you might as well use it up by checking and rechecking your answers. However, I felt so good about this test, that I was able to leave in only 40 minutes. After checking my answers twice, too. So out of 125 points, I was able to pull 117. Not bad at all, though it could have been better. It's still an 'A', but I would have liked for that number to be a little higher. At least I understand all of the concepts, and the points that were taken off were due to quantitative errors, not calculative.
I love
math, too. I think that it should be part of the core of anyone's education. I'm in Calculus 1 right now, and we've got quite a few tests to take in that class. However, my professor is really one of the most generous professors that I've ever seen. He's a great teacher to boot, too. Most people really enjoy his classes. Proofs of concepts are regular parts of our lessons. But back to his being generous for tests; he always gives extra credit questions. And extra credit assignments for tests are all take-home, as well. For this past test, he gave 7 extra credit points for a 50 point test! I was already pretty darn happy with my grade of 94%, but the extra credit points helped me raise the grade to a 108%. My professor is awesome
However, not all of my day was so bright and lovely. Apparently, there's some sort of bug going around the school campus, and I seem to have caught it. It's only half way through the season of fall right now, but it's already gotten a lot colder than it usually does. In fact, there was even a frost outside today. This really isn't helping my stuffed up sinuses, head-ache, and dripping nose. I hope I get better. But if I don't, then I'll have an excuse for skipping my Japanese mid-term on Wednesday. That's a pretty good idea....
thinkandrew
OA Fall Chapter Fellowship
The
Order of the Arrow is a Boy Scouts of America Honor Society, one that celebrates the high ordeals of camping. But just because we celebrate the high ordeals of camping doesn't mean that relaxed-camping isn't part of the fun stuff that we do. This weekend, I participated in the Nisqually Lodge's Fall Chapter Fellowship.
The Fall Chapter Fellowship took place at Camp Thunderbird, which is a Boy Scout camp about 20 minutes west of where I am. It's a very popular camp, and my troop uses it quite often for their events. Other district, council, and even non-scouting related events happen there all the time. This was my first real event with the OA, and I was really looking forward to it. I knew a lot of the people that were going as well, as many members of our troop are also members in the OA.
The Nisqually Lodge really needs to work on making sure some information gets sent across to all of its members, though. I knew the Fall Fellowship was going to be this weekend, but I had no idea what time I was to show up, what I was supposed to bring, or even what to expect until I made a few phone-calls. Apparently, many other people didn't know as well. I arrived at Camp Thunderbird to find a parking lot that was completely empty. A walk-around of the camp found a small group of OA members, who assured me that I was indeed at the right place, at the right time. It took a while before people started trickling in. The event was supposed to be Lodge-wide, which basically means it's open to every member from Aberdeen up to Tacoma. However, only a total of about 40 to 50 people showed up.
The day's activities where pretty much up to us. There were a few scheduled events that were supposed to happen, but every other time was pretty much free for us to do whatever we wanted. On Saturday morning, though, there was an introductory class for new members in the OA, and a short service project which involved the removal of an old boardwalk. The trail that the boardwalk was on was seldom used, and was being closed down for revegetation. It was already pretty over-grown to begin with, and I wouldn't be surprised if there is no sign of it next time I head out to Camp Thunderbird. Of course there were meals, and even a movie in the evening.
However, the rest of the day was hang-out time. It was really nice to be able to kick back and relax, as I haven't been able to just not worry about anything for quite a while. Running around, playing with a boomerang, and vegging out to video games was basically the program for about six hours. Apparently, video consoles and TVs are on the packing list for many of these OA events. It got quite chilly outside, too, so much time was spent indoors. It was pretty fun this weekend, I'll probably head out the the next one in February, as well.
thinkandrew
Couting the Days, Corn Maze!
I'm really starting to count the days until Fall quarter at school is over. I know that it didn't start that long ago, only about a month and a half. It's just that I've been really burnt out lately, over the various amounts of things that I have to do. It's really tough to be running on high gear all the time. You run it long enough, and eventually the gears will wear out. Then you'll be stuck, just spinnin your cogs. You'll have all the will-power, but none of the energy. That just about sums up how I feel right now. I don't even want to start thinking about tomorrow morning. Once again, I'm going to have a crazy-busy day. I've got school, work, a piano master class (that I didn't find out about until today), and a Scout thing for the weekend. I can't even think of when the next weekend is that I can just sit at home for some serious R&R. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning. But then again, the way things are going right now, probably not.
Well, on the bright side, I got invited to go with a church youth group to a corn maze tonight! For those of you who don't know what a corn maze is, it's exactly what it sounds like. Large fields of corn have paths cut through them, normally in some sort of labyrinth. Crop circles with a friendlier twist, I guess you could say. Anyway, I've never been to one, and was pretty excited to head out there tonight. I'd seen pictures of the local corn maze in the newspaper, and it looked pretty exciting.
When I got there, though, and finally dived into it, I was surprised how small it really was. The entire maze can be covered within an hour, assumming that you actually know where you are. It was a lot of fun, though, stalking through the corn, and jumping out to scare people as they walked past. However, it's already late in the season, so a lot of the paths have already deteriorated. Despite the yellow ribbons clearly marking the paths, hundreds of people have blazed their own trails through the fields of corn. The corn was all dried out, too, so there was none to bring home. All in all, though, it was a fun evening. I'd like to go again next year.
thinkandrew
I'm Feeling Green
Greeners and tree-huggers are what we call 'em. I'm not trying to be stereotypical of anyone here, but that's what a large portion of society has labeled a certain group of people. People that are always out to protect the environment, to make a smaller impact on the earth, and to lower energy use. There are, of course, opposite extremes. On one side of the spectrum, you've got people who stand in front of bulldozers so that they won't plow through a piece of land (when the bulldozers have every right to do so). The extreme-greeners. Then you've got people who manage to generate
90 gallons of garbage every week. That's just as, if not even more so, bad.
Me? I believe in moderation. I lean a little bit more towards the tree-hugger side, I guess you could say. I've been in the outdoors a whole lot since we moved here two years ago. It does make me sad that those sights might be taken away from future generations if we don't protect them. I think part of the awe that came from going to Philmont was realizing that scouts that went there 50 years ago saw the exact same things that I did. But I'm also somewhat unwilling to live without my modern amenities. If technology is advancing, you might as well go with it. I still like to wash my own dishes by hand, though, I don't like using a machine. But like I said, moderation is the key. I'm not going to drive some SUV that guzzles more gas daily than I do water. But at the same time, I don't think it's healthy to live in some house made out of recycled water bottles, or to run around naked because making clothes kills plants.
I think I've gotten a lot greener, as of today, though. I went to a local outdoor store today. Outdoor stores are some of my favorite stores, there are always things to drool over. It's a lot of fun to get out into the backcountry, but it's amusing how much technology we always try to take with us. If a $300 jacket doesn't say "textile technology" to you, I don't know what will. But today, I found something pretty neat. In a large basket sitting near the front door, there was a big pile of
Teko Socks. Now there are a lot of companies that make socks out there, but when I did a websearch on Teko, this was the first company I found that makes socks and only socks. They're all made with super-environmentally-friendly fibers, and they're supposed to be super-comfortable, too. In fact,
Backpacker Magazine gave them the 2005 Editor's Green Choice Award. The socks that were in the bin were made of organic-cotton, though I'm not really sure what that means. All I know is that they were super-comfortable, I needed a pair of low-cut socks (for running and cycling, if I ever get out the door), and they were on sale! And hey, if I happen to be helping the environment while I'm wearing them, that's great!
I love my super-cool new Teko Socks. They're really some pretty neat socks. Almost too cool to wear, in fact. I think I'm going to save them until it's warm enough to run or cycle. I might even get another pair, if they're still on sale at the store. But for now, I'm going to wear my regular, non-organic, hazardous to the environment, socks.
thinkandrew
Advising Day
Advising Day is the day that I get advised. That's kind of obvious, isn't it? I'd think that's why the school administrators decided to call it Advising Day. After all, it's not Registration Day, or Test Day, or First Day of School Day. It's Advising Day, and that's what people will be at school for.
Advising Day is supposed to be a very important day for the entire student population. I'm in the Running Start program, which enabled me to start registering for Winter Quarter classes earlier than everybody else, by two weeks, in fact. However, the majority of the student population will not be able to start registering for Winter classes until tomorrow morning. Every student has an advisor, and they're supposed to set up an appointment during which their next quarter of classes will be planned out. There are so many different options at SPSCC, ranging from Associates Degrees to GEDs, to even just highschool diplomas. Each of these different programs have different credit requirements, and that's what the advisers are supposed to help you figure out. For example, I'm trying for an Associates of Science degree (option two: Engineering). That degree requires 180 credits, with a mix of Chemistry, Physics, a large dose of Math, some Humanities and Social Sciences for good measure, and some other general education classes.
But the funny thing is, the advisers only help you plan out your courses for the next quarter. I suppose that I'll need some advice from an advisor later on, but right now, it's almost ridiculous to even look at the options. All three of the classes I'm taking are full-year sequences. What is there to advise me on? I'm simply going to take the next class in the series. That's pretty much how it's going to be for the whole year. I'll probably toss in another class in the spring, and make it a twenty credit quarter, but I don't have to think about that for a while.
But still, a lot of people look forward to Advising Day quite a bit. Mostly for the reason that there are no day-time classes on Advising Day. Nope, tomorrow is the day that I get to stay home. As a Running Start student, I am not required to meet with an advisor. Everyone else is just going to meet with one, then head home, or go to either the Physics or Calculus study group that will be held at the Westside Top Foods tomorrow. I won't be going anywhere, though. I've got a test on Thursday and on Friday, and tomorrow is prime time to really get some serious studying done. I think that, right now at least, studying for my test is more immediately urgent than getting advised on what I already know I need to do.
A funny thing happened to me today. When I woke up, the driveway was still soaked from the rain last night. I hopped on my bike, and pedaled down to the school below. When it was time to go home, it was incredibly windy outside. The trees were whipping around in all directions. What was strange, though, was that no matter which direction I was pedaling on the way home (the street up the hill is kind of snaky), the wind was blowing directly in my face. In fact, the wind was strong enough to make it very difficult to get up the hill.
I think SPSCC is trying to keep me from leaving.
thinkandrew
Busy Weekends
So many things happened this weekend, it's not even funny. It seems that different events just happen from week to week, and you never really realize that they're here until they're staring you in the face. Things approach so fast that you can't even deal with the on-rush of days. Yet on other days, it feels as if you're stuck in between weekends, and that the freedom that is relished from later days will never arrive. Fortunately for me, the latter option was not what happened. Unfortunately, the former did happen. Too many things really can make your head spin.
This weekend has been approaching for a long time, and I've known it was going to come. I can't say that I was fully prepared for it, as that would be a lie. And yet, I was prepared enough that I didn't completely struggle through it. I would have preferred that I was more informed of what was going on, though. This weekend was my Boy Scout troop's Annual Planning Conference, which is the most important event of my six month term in office as Senior Patrol Leader. It was during this event that short term troop and patrol goals were established for the the next two months, and long term goals for the other four. This planning conference was held over a 2 day period, with an overnight stay. I really feel that we got a lot done during this conference. It was harder than I expected, though I already knew that it would be difficult. Keeping a show going for 30 impatient teenagers is a tough thing to do, and it's even harder to try and keep their attention. However, I guess I prevailed in the end. It's going to be interesting to see how they follow up on the goals they set.
My older brother came down from the University to visit, as well. In fact, he took the bus all the way from Seattle down to Olympia. It was quite a ride, and he got home quite late at night. And the next morning, I left for the APC. He's come down once every two weeks so far, and he's doing so again next week. I didn't see him at all over the weekend, as I was gone. However, I did go back up to Seattle with him. We went to another one of our favorite restaurants, a Szechuan restaurant in the north part of Seattle. It has great food, though the service last night was lacking. The place was very crowded, and the staff was under-manned. Food quality suffered, and service was slower than usual. And yet, I still enjoyed a very nice dinner. Here's to hoping that it will be nicer next time.
Then it was a long drive back home. I guess I really shouldn't be complaining, since all I had to do was sit in the back-seat. I wasn't the one behind the wheel. But sitting in a car seat for a long time can be tiring in itself. Once I got home, it wasn't long before I found my way to my bedroom. And to the bed. I was out in merely 5 minutes.
And then back to school. Right now, I really do feel trapped between weekends. And yet there is so much that I am needed to do right now. I'll talk about that later.
thinkandrew
Not in the mood
Sometimes, I'm just not really in the mood to share my life with the rest of the world. I guess you can say that's what this blog really is, it's a portal from which I share my thoughts and expressions to anyone who wishes to read it. It's a lot of fun, and exciting, in the fact that people are actually reading your writing. In fact, I'm up to an average of 20 visits a day.
There's always something that I can write about. It may take a while for it to come to me, but yet, it always does. I can write about what happened at school today, or how the popcorn sale is going. Often, when I'm expressing my specific opinion, it's usually on a subject that I'm heavily involved in, either math, music, or Scouting. Whatever the subject matter, each post is different, and I've already posted over 175 times. Not bad, eh? Here's to 175 more.
But sometimes, I'm just totally pooped. I don't feel like writing any sort of lengthy post today, but it seems that I've already done half of one. So many things happened today, and I'm just waaay too tired to say anything else. I'll see you guys in the morning. Maybe I'll be refreshed enough for school by then. But if I don't go soon, I won't be.
thinkandrew
Fall APC
The Fall Annual Planning Conference is the most important event of my entire SPL career. This is the event where the newly elected leaders in our troop will discuss their various goals, how they plan to achieve them, and the plan for our troop for the next six months. The name of the Fall APC itself is kind of oxymoronic, though. It's an Annual Planning Conference, yet we have 2 each year. One in the spring, and one in the fall. Go figure.
The Fall APC will be held out at Camp Thunderbird again, which is just about where we have it every time. Besides goal planning and event organization, though, there's also quite a bit of leadership training involved. Fortunately for me, the Scoutmaster takes care of that side of the deal. I just need to make sure that we get everybody there, and lead up more of the planning side of things. This is my first time running one, though I've already been to several. Four, I think. So, I kind of know the drill. I was prepping for this weekend all last night, and it looks like it's gonna be pretty good!
We scatter games throughout the conference, just to make sure that 13 year olds aren't getting too serious. Following tradition, though, there's always a large pizza dinner around 5, and an even larger Capture the Flag game once it gets dark. Capture the Flag is a huge obsession in our troop, even with some scouts bringing in gilly suits that they somehow acquired. I don't want to know how. The game goes on for about an hour and a half at night, with no flashlights, and an area over 1 acre in size. It's going to be pretty intense tonight. Fortunately, there'll be no wind, and it won't be too cold. That's a nice break from last year, where temperatures went below 40, and rain was coming down at 30 miles an hour. Horizontally. In fact, we may not even need flashlights at all tonight. There'll be a nice, bright moon to light our way.
I'll see you guys back on Sunday evening!
thinkandrew
Ball Games and Newspapers
Catching tad-poles
When I say ball games, I don't necessarily mean baseball. I mean any game with a ball. Baseball, basketball, football, soccer; anything that's round, inflated (though that's not the case with squash, racket ball, and golf), and is meant to be hit or thrown for any distance. Really, who out there hasn't played a game that involves a ball? They're the favorite outdoor game of just about anybody. The rules aren't always too complicated (when you're just playing with a group of guys), and everybody always has something to do.
I'm not that great at ballgames, though. I've always thought that it would be fun to get into organized sports, but there's too much of a time commitment involved to take it seriously. I don't think I'm ready give up Scouting, piano, or even my job at the Math Lab. I don't think that I'd be treating my coach fairly either, as he wouldn't be able to rely on me being there for every single practice and every single meet. I have a some friends that are on the Olympia High School Football team, and they tell me about the awesome times that they have at games all the time. They get to travel (does a 1 hour bus-ride count?), visit different schools, and just have a great time playing a game that they love. But the guys on the OHS Football team that are in my Scout troop haven't been to any of the meetings in a long, long time.
I can't say that I'm much of any spectator sports, though. Normally, just about all the sports that I watch on TV are either the Olympics, the World Cup, or the Superbowl. I tried watching the Tour de France on TV one time, but really, how are you supposed to watch men in skin-tight pants cycle down a road? As far as football, though, I think some of the excitement has rubbed off onto me. With Seattle's entrance into the Superbowl last season, the whole area's desperately watching the Seahawks play, hoping that they might be able to pull it off again this year. Who knows? We might even win!
I guess I was in somewhat of a football mind today, as I left the house. I ride my bike down to school, and the newspaper is always delivered onto our driveway. Mom always asks me to bring the newspaper in to the garage, so I normally just toss it in. If you've never tried to, newspapers can be quite difficult to throw. Especially when they're really thick, and hard to get a grip on. I tossed the first one, and it landed just short of the garage. Football, I thought, football. I'll punt the second one into the garage. I picked it up, tossed it into the air, and swung out as hard as I could with my foot.
"Mom! Mom!"
"What?"
"I've got a problem!"
"What did you do? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. But the newspaper's on the roof."
"...What!??!"
And that's why I was late to school today.
thinkandrew
Club Fair
You remember when it was cool to be in a club? When it was the greatest thing in the world to get a bunch of your friends together, and make up some sort of secret association that no one else was supposed to know about? Those were fun times. There'd be about 5 of you, and you'd spend all day thinking about a secret code, and you'd have code names for each other, and there'd be this little notebook with all sorts of junk in it. You may have even made little badges out of cardboard, and taped safety pins to the back of them. But then, eventually, you'd forget about it, as more important things started happening. Clubs were no longer so important, and they'd kind of float into the back of your mind. But those were fun times.
I guess it's the idea of being able to hang out with a bunch of your friends, and do a lot of fun stuff together. It's a great feeling to be in a room with a whole bunch of like-minded people, and just have fun with each other. You don't have to have a specific goal in mind, though that definitely helps. Sometimes, you'll just be sitting around in a room, watching TV. Or playing video games. Or you might actually be out on a 72-mile trek through the New Mexico mountains, which is certainly what it felt like when I went to Philmont. I guess Boy Scouts is sort of like that club that we all forgot about, in the fact that you get to hang out with a bunch of people that are all into the same thing, and have a whole bunch of fun while doing it.
SPSCC had their Club Fair today, in the Student Union Building. There are several different student-run clubs on campus, and Club Fair is the day that everybody can come and see different club's booths, to see what their club is all about. I decided I should go check it out this afternoon, after I got off work in the Math Lab. Boy, was it a mad-house in the Student Union Building. About 20 different clubs had a table, including the Culinary Club (sponsored, of course, by the Culinary Arts program at SPSCC), which gave out free lunch in the form of spaghetti. I didn't have to go home to eat today.
There must have been 200 people in the Student Union Building this afternoon, all checking out the various clubs. I knew a few people that headed up some of the clubs, so I went to go check out their tables. The SPSCC Computer Club had a computer up on a table, all taken apart, as well as a large monitor displaying some video game. On the opposite side of the hall, there was a row of tables that struck me as quite amusing. There was a row of four clubs in a row, all very different. What struck me as odd was that they were the complete and total opposite of each other, yet lined up side by side. The Christian Community Club was at one end, followed by the Liberal Politicals Club, next to the "Gay" Club (I may get some flak for this, but if they're handing out stickers that say "straight but not narrow" and gay-pride flags...), and the row was ended with the Conservative Americans Club. Go figure. They seemed to be getting along pretty well, though.
A whole bunch of free stuff was being given a way, too. I'm all for free stuff, which is why it's so much fun to go to fairs or conventions. The Computer Club was giving away Ubuntu (a Linux distribution) discs, the Conservative Americans Club was giving away small books on flag-etiquette, and the Student Senate was giving away polycarbonate water bottles. That's what my student fees went to pay for, I guess. Oh, lots of free food was being handed out, too. Candy was a must at every booth, and I already said the Culinary Club was giving out free lunch. But they were giving out cookies, too. The cookies were kind of...interesting.
"Are these cookies for taking?"
"Sure! Take one!"
"...but they're shaped like fingers."
"It's Halloween time! They're supposed to be scary."
"...eew."
thinkandrew
Skilled Workers
If you guys have been reading my blog regularly for the past month or so, you'll be familiar with my piano project. If not, do a search on my blog for any posts that mentions the words "piano" and "refinish". It certainly took a long time for me to finish refinishing it, and I'm glad that it's finally done. It got moved into our living room, and every wooden piece is now ready to be put back together.
Then I went to look at the action, the moving parts of the piano. Then I realized my job is not yet even half done. In fact, I've finished very little of the piano project. Sure, the cabinet looks great now, and if I do say so myself, I think it's just shy of show-room worthy. But certainly, it's the moving parts that really matter. The action is where all the action happens, pardon the pun. It's a very complicated piece of machinery, perfected over hundreds of years. The different parts of the action can be regulate endlessly, and how perfect you can get it will transfer to how the keys will feel under your fingers. It takes a lot of skill to get everything just perfect. And since I don't have that skill, I asked
Mr. Ryan Sowers of
Pianova Professional Piano Services to help me out.
Mr. Sowers came in today, and helped me a lot with the action on my piano. There are so many things that he was able to show me, that I'd never have been able to figure out on my own. I guess that kind of knowledge just comes from years of experience. It was really cool to watch him work, as he knew what he was doing so well. In the hour that he was here, he helped me figure out how to put it back together, replace or fix some flanges, and clip the kickboard into place. I've got a long to-do list for my piano, and when I get closer to finishing it, Mr. Sowers said he'd come again and help me with the finishing touches.
Mr. Sowers is definitely a very skilled technician. You don't see many of those anymore, most people are now sitting behind a desk and a computer. It takes years of training to be able to do what Mr. Sowers is now doing. There are very subtle nuances in every aspect of skilled work that cannot be fully appreciated unless you attempt to do the work yourself. The experience required to get something like a piano just right is incredible. A lot of people don't realize how much skill and knowledge is used in a skilled arena. There's so much emphasis put on school and a modern education that there has been a loss of appreciation for skilled workers that are every bit as smart, but in different areas.
But on the other side, perhaps the era of the skill technician
is beginning to end. Mr. Sowers says that there are fewer and fewer people are getting into the piano technician profession. Now, the 'ticket' to success is a college education. And it looks like that's the way it's going to be for a while.
thinkandrew
PSAT
I'm taking the PSAT tomorrow morning. I really don't think that I should be on the computer right now, rather, I should be getting a good night's sleep so that I won't have to worry about pressing my cheek into the papers tomorrow morning. Or drooling onto my answer sheet. But yet I feel obligated to post. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, and I'll make it short this time.
I'm not unduly worried about the test tomorrow. In fact, I'm not scared by the PSAT or even the SAT at all. I've already taken both tests in previous years. As a junior, though, the PSAT will now count as an entry for the National Merit Scholarship, or NMS. It's a national program that celebrates high scoring students on the PSAT. If I do well, a letter of recommendation will do very well for any college application. I hope that I will be able to get the NMS; I know a few people who are finalists from the PSAT last year.
When I registered for the PSAT, they gave me a packet that included a practice PSAT. I've been meaning to do it for a while, but I only had time to complete two of the sections last night. The critical reading section was a little tough, as the material that was provided was quite heavy. I should be fine on that section, though, and I'm aiming for an above 75 (the scale is from 20 to 80) score. I got all of the math questions correct on the math section. None of the questions on the PSAT are meant to be challenging in the way of knowledge. Most of them are designed in a way that it forces you to think. You really have to use your problem solving skills to get the answer right. Often your first impression may not be the correct answer on a test. You always have to be wary of what you get.
The biggest reason that I got questions wrong, though, was that I was to wary of my first impression. There lays the second extreme, where I second guess myself way too much. You definitely shouldn't do that, either, or you're going to be stuck on the same question for a very, very long time. Sometimes, when you stare at a question for too long, it will begin to over-complicate itself. Don't fall into that trap, rather keep things as simple as possible. That will normally lead you to the correct answer.
Well, I have to be at Avanti High School tomorrow morning at 8 to take the PSAT. Then I have to head back to school, to take my Calculus class and my Physics lab. If only a standardized test was all I needed to do.
thinkandrew
I'd rather be in bed
Today was just one of those days. I wouldn't say that I'm always depressed, nor am I always happy. But sometimes, you wake up in the morning, and you just want to crawl back into bed and curl up. You hope that if you curl up tight enough, you'll fall asleep, and no one will notice the lump under the covers. Then maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to skip school for the day. Yeah right. By 7:45 I had thrown off the blanket, and was packing my bag for school.
It was pretty cloudy when I woke up. The Weather Channel predicted a light rain, but there wasn't hardly any as I looked out the window. But it was still grey and overcast. It would be great to get back into bed, and just wish my worries out the window, I thought. Worries that had been bugging me all weekend. I had a lot of stuff that I had to plan for the Scout meeting tomorrow night (which I've fortunately gotten done), I received back two of my tests today (Calculus and Japanese), I hadn't yet reached my popcorn-sale goal, and whatever else wasn't going quite as smooth as I would like it to. It would be nice to forget all that, and just be irresponsible for a day. I bit down on my bagel again. It's warm in here, too, I thought. But I guess I have to go to school.
I took it slow down the hill, and rode carefully, as the road was quite slick. There was some construction going on off the side of the road, too, so I had to stop to wait for them to finish something before I could pass. I got to school, put my bike in the locker, and went to class. Then I got bored. It's just one of those days. The classroom I was in is somewhere in the basement of the building, and there's no natural light inside. My Japanese teacher wasn't really that boring, but it was just hard to stay interested. I got my test back, though. I got an 84 out of 100. Not too bad, but I wasn't very happy with the score. Ah well, at least the clock finally reached 10. Now it was time to go to Physics.
While Physics was more interesting, paying attention was more difficult than ever. We went over several homework problems that I had already done over the weekend, so we didn't really cover anything that I was having trouble with. I found myself gazing off into space, waiting for the hour to end. I glanced at the clock. Isn't it terrible, when you think you've been sitting in class for at least 20 minutes, and it turns out it's only 4? It's awful. But then, all of a sudden, we turned over to a different subject, momentum. Now that grasped my interest. A brand new subject, something that I could sink my teeth into. My brain started to jump start itself, and the ball finally got rolling, as I got something to do. But then class finished, and I had an hour to burn to get to Calculus.
We got our Calculus tests back today, and I was getting increasingly nervous as people's names were called and I still didn't get my test back. Turns out my fears were unjustified, though, as I got a 96. That's the best that I've scored on a test all quarter! I was really excited, as I was expecting to do a lot worse in that test. Thankfully, my teacher gives partial credit for correct working. It turns out that a lot of the questions I got wrong all used the correct process, but just messed up at the very end. Then we went over every problem in the test, which put me back into rest-head-on-hands-because-I'm-not-allowed-to-sleep mode.
Turns out I wasn't the only one that didn't want to be in school today. I counted three other people outright sleeping on their desks. It's just one of those days, I guess. Maybe I should have some coffee tomorrow.
thinkandrew
Winter is approaching
I know that fall started barely a few weeks ago, but it already feels like winter is fast approaching. The trees have began to change color, but it's beginning to get so grey outside that it's as if the trees no longer have any color at all. In fact, it's supposed to be raining all day tomorrow, with the temperature never breaking 60 degrees. It's still a little early, but I'm already breaking out the winter jacket.
It rained all day today. That's a good thing, because locally, we're behind by almost one inch on our average rain fall for the month. While western Washington is famous for rain, we really don't get that much. We do have a rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula, but as for Olympia itself, we actually get less rain than New York City does. But it has been raining quite a bit here today. It didn't help that much that we were trying to sell popcorn in front of Lowe's today, as well. I would have thought that the rain would have slowed down traffic considerably. While it certainly was less, the traffic wasn't as bad as I would have expected.
I hope it won't be raining when I ride my bike down the hill to school tomorrow. The water really steals the heat out of my hands, in fact, I think I'll wear some gloves tomorrow. I'm going to have to be careful, too, otherwise the slippery streets might make it quite difficult to brake when going down the hill. The windows on our car are all fogged up in the mornings now, and we have to turn on the windshield-wipers to see anything. It won't be long before we're going to have to scrape the frost off of them, and by then, I'll probably stop riding my bike down the hill. I don't want to risk sliding down a sheet of black ice. I like it when the ice is on our lawn, though. It's really pretty, it looks so delicate. Come to think of it, we'd better get our flower bulbs in the ground before the first frost hits. Once it does, the ground will be too hard to plant anything anymore.
Some people are still trying to fight away the colder temperatures, though. I see people at school wearing shorts and t-shirts all the time, as if they're too cool to be affected by the weather. That's kind of ironic, isn't it, being to cool for the cool temperatures. Flip-flops still flip-flop around campus, while other people are beginning to get out their flannel jackets and fleece-lined hoods. It's going to take a while for people to notice that it really is too cold to wear sandals and tank-tops.
But the sun did fight back today. When I was selling popcorn today, the sun broke out from behind the rain clouds for about a half hour. The light streamed through the window, and people actually had to shield their eyes from the sun. It got warm enough that I took off my jacket. I guess it's probably the last that we're going to see for a while. Till next year, then.
thinkandrew
Coffee
I reached a minor milestone today. I walked into a
Starbucks and bought a cup of coffee. A tall (12 oz) Cafe Mocha, to be precise. It's not the first time that I've had a cup of coffe, but that depends on what you define as a "real" coffee. If you don't count the blended ones that are mostly milk, chocolate, and just a hint of coffee, then it's the first time that I've had a cup of coffee. It's the first time that I went into a store and bought one myself, at least. Which is pretty sad, considering the fact that I live in Washington, where everybody is nutso about coffee. Also consider the fact that I live just south of Seattle, the mecca of Starbucks-made coffee-holics everywhere in the country.
Starbucks has opened over 6,750 stores worldwide. With Washington being its international home, there are Starbucks shops on just about every corner of every street. I can think of at least 6 different Starbucks right off the top of my head, even though I'm not a regular client. Since Washington is so coffee-crazed, Starbucks isn't the only place here that sells coffee. There are so many stores out there, such as Seattle's Best (obviously a Starbucks competitor, though it turns out it's actually
owned and operated by Starbucks), Mud Bay Coffee (a local favorite coffee shop), and uncountable small espresso shacks that sit inside many parking lots. Every person has their favorite place, but since I'm not a regular coffee drinker, I really can't tell the difference between them. All I know is that my first cup of coffee was pretty darn good, and I'd be likely to buy one again.
Coffee is incredibly popular around here. Coffee has the distinction of being the second most traded commodity in the world, after oil. In the US, coffee consumption is about 33% of that of tap water, according to Wikipedia. The consummate image of a young urban professional is a man with a laptop bag slung over one shoulder, a cellphone on his hip, and a cup of coffee in hand. People I know can't survive without their morning cup of coffee, in fact, my piano teacher can't really work until she's had four cups of coffee in the morning. Decaf, of course. When I went to Philmont, the adult leaders treated their instant Folgers like gold. They even almost had an argument over who's was who's, when the bags got mixed up inside someone's pack. Then there are people that I know that buy straight shots of espresso from the coffee house. It's pretty disgusting.
It was pretty scary though, the first time I ever walked into a coffee store. There were so many choices, so many choices! The menu must have been 30 items long. I'm almost a complete lay-man (not quite complete, I'll explain in a moment) when it comes to different types of coffee. If presented to me in a cup, I really can't tell the difference between percolated, an Americano, or a latte (minus the foam on top). The just look like different levels of blackness to me. I don't particularly enjoy the sips of black coffee that I've had, either, I like the few cups that I've had creamy, and with chocolate in them. It's like hot-chocolate with just a hint of bite in it. When I looked at the menu today, I was pretty sure that I wanted something with chocolate in it. But then I had to choose between white chocolate or black chocolate. Or fat-free milk, whole milk, 2% milk, soy milk, or any other kind of milk. Whatever happened to plain old cow-milk? I did, however, eventually settle on my Cafe Mocha.
I said just now that I'm not a complete lay-man when it comes to coffee. I certainly am when it comes to drinking. I certainly am not when it comes to making. I attended a Culinary Arts program at a vocational skills center for a year, where I often manned the coffee station. I can make you an Americano, a latte, a Cappucino, a mocha, and a few others that I forget the name of. It probably won't be that great, as I really don't know what I'm doing when I make it. I do, however, have some knowledge of how the process works. Thus, I can tell a good cup of coffee when I'm watching it being made, but really can't tell the difference when it's in my mouth.
So I guess today really was a minor milestone. I won't say that I'm completely hooked on coffee. Like I said, I'm definitely not a purist, and not picky about what it is, as long as it's not too strong. I'll drink it, and I think I'm beginning to like it. I don't know, however, if I'm prepared to plop down three bucks every morning for something that I can definitely survive without. Maybe over the winter, though. The cup makes a nice hand warmer, even if I don't drink it.
thinkandrew
Show and Sell
I sold popcorn in front of a store today. Like I said in previous posts, this is akin to Girl Scouts selling cookies in front of stores. Except that we're selling popcorn, not cookies. And I'm a boy, not a girl. But other than that, it's basically the same thing. Our troop arranged for several shifts in front of many different stores, and tonight was my first one.
Although tonight was my first one, it's certainly not my only one. Including today, I'll be sitting in front of stores for 8 hours over the weekend. I don't really know how much I'll be able to sell, but I'm really hoping. The benefit of selling in front of stores is quite obvious. You can come in contact with a lot more people in a shorter amount of time, and you have your product to display and immediately deliver. You certainly get a lot more no's than when you go door to door, though. When I knock on somebody's door, they're giving their full attention to me and the popcorn. But when I'm hailing them as they're walking past, their interests are on other things, and they may not even notice that I'm there.
The sale kind of started out like that today. I sold in front of the Lacey Fred Meyer from 6 - 8 pm, with only my mom and I there. A lot of people just sort of glanced at my table, then walked by. Fred Meyer told us that we weren't allowed to solicit customers as they were entering the store, only exiting it. That makes sense, after all, since I wouldn't want to carry a large tin of popcorn around the store with me either. The selling really went pretty slowly for about the first half hour. I got one or two donations, and one sale. I noticed that people that bought from me usually came straight to my table with the intention of buying, rather than when I asked them.
Around 6:30, though, the sale really kicked up a notch. Within 45 minutes, I believe I sold around 90 dollars worth of popcorn. It was really pretty exciting, to be able to hand people their popcorn and put the money into an envelope. It's more fun than selling door to door, because when you give them their popcorn, the deal is done. You've collected their money, they've gotten their popcorn, and that's it. When I was taking orders, I knew that I would have to come back and deliver the popcorn later.
However, for the next hour, nothing really sold. It was already getting later into the evening, and the traffic around the front of the store was beginning to slow down as well. It had gotten dark outside, and most people were already done with their grocery shopping. I was just about to wrap it up, too, when a lady and her sons came along and bought 40 dollars worth, right off the bat. There are many faithful followers of Boy Scout popcorn, and I was just fortunate enough to find one of them. Hopefully, I'll meet a few more when I sell tomorrow and on Sunday.
thinkandrew
Standardized Music vs. Creative Release
Playing piano is a part of me. I've been sitting at the keyboard for 11 years now, and I don't think that I'll ever stop. To just sit down at the piano and begin playing comes so naturally to me now. But it didn't start that way. Lessons are essential for learning how to play the piano. But what are we really learning from these lessons? Are we soulful musicians? Or are we imitating robots?
I don't feel that piano lessons are just lessons that teach you how to play the piano. For sure, there are various techniques that are specific to each instrument. You have to learn how to and practice with anything before you can get good at it. But for the most part, I feel that piano lessons are more music lessons than anything. There's definitely a lot to learn about playing the piano, but I think the most beneficial thing that comes out of piano lessons is the understanding of the music. Once you are familiar with the various aspects of music itself, such as reading music, chord structures, and how the music is supposed to flow from the fingertips, you can learn almost any instrument. Once you understand the soul of the music itself, learning how to play an instrument is just learning how to make the music flow through that particular tool. That's mostly what I feel that I've been learning about for the past 11 years.
I've had predominately classical piano lessons for most of my piano career. I've probably had at least 5 different piano teachers over the past 10 years. We switched a lot, though it was all for different reasons. Some switches were because we moved, others were because our teacher could no longer offer us anything more. But we developed, and got better. However, I've come to the point where I really don't know what to do with classical piano anymore. I still enjoy it a lot. There's great music out there to be played, and I have a whole list of things that I would like to work on eventually. The problem for me is how much classical piano has been...industrialized, lets say.
When I lived in Malaysia, everybody that played the piano was only playing it to take the next standardized exam. Once they passed grade 8 (the highest grade), they stopped. Grade 8 meant they were "done" with piano, and no further work was needed. Here, there is no grading system. But it seems to me that all people are striving for is the next competition or event. Everything that I'm playing has to meet a deadline; I have to have it perfect in time for the concerto competition in December. Or the adjudications in March. Or the piano festival in February. Have people forgotten why this music was written? It's to be enjoyed. Sure, if I have something ready for a competition, I'll play in it. I enjoy competition, and I'll work hard for it. But that's become the only thing that I'm
allowed to work for. Why is that?
I find a lot of release in my jazz piano lessons. Yes, I take two piano lessons a week, both on Thursday. My jazz piano lessons are taught by Joe Baque, a local maestro. My older brother took lessons from him, and that landed him private classes at the UW, when he passed the audition. Joe Baque is really a great man, and it's incredible how intimate his connection with the piano is. What's amazing about his teaching is that I'm not learning how to interpret someone else's notes. Sure, the melodies and the chords are presented for me. But how it will come out is entirely up to me. I'm
creating, not imitating. At one point, the classical music that we are playing now was all the crazy creations of men at the bleeding edge of music innovation. But it seems that it's gotten stuck in a rut, and become increasingly standardized. Jazz allows me to put my own feeling into the music, and lets people hear what I have to say about something. I find that very appealing. When you get into that mood, and your fingers are just flying over the keyboard, it's like magic. Joe says that's when I'm "swingin". Boy, does swingin' feel good.
thinkandrew
Math Techniques
There are many different ways to do math. There's only one correct answer, but there are so many ways to get there. Unfortunately, there's an infinite number of wrong answers, and getting to the wrong one can be quite easy if you aren't paying attention. Math is basically playing with numbers; rearranging them to try and fit them into the puzzle. If you think about it logically, you'll get it right. But if you just plug and play 'em, you'll never get to see the picture on the box.
You know, I was right not to bet on the fact that the first quarter of math would be easy for me. It's not that we've gone over anything that I don't understand. It's going over the old stuff that is starting to confuse me. When I was using my Singapore math curriculum, there was a bunch of standard vocabulary and techniques that were applied. It all made perfect sense to me back then. But now that I'm using a new textbook with different standards, it's starting to confuse me. I'm finally getting around that learning curve, and I think I'm beginning to fully understand what the book is trying to say. But today, I just got hit with a huge math problem that I had to think about for well over 40 minutes.
It's not a terribly difficult Calculus problem. The derivative of sin x = cos x. (If you're not a math-geek, just assume that what I'm saying is correct. Because I'm always correct.) That's a well known derivative, and is a standard that is applied to all other derivations of trigonometric functions. I know how to prove it, as well, using limit form. However, to do so, I would have to use quite a few trigonometric identities and limit identities that I'm technically not supposed to know yet. Like I said before, I've already taken quite a bit of Calculus. But since I'm not allowed to use those identities, I have to go back to basics and try to figure it all out using techniques only up to what we have learned in the textbook. So far, all that I've proved is that doing so is proving to be a real pain.
But I think I've finally got it. To prove that the derivative of sin x = cos x, I had to prove two other identities. It involved half a sheet of paper, two graphs, and a whole bunch of algebra. Fortunately, the question said to use a graph to prove it, rather than to prove it analytically. That would kill me. Even though these problems are all extra credit, I can use every point that I can get. The math test is on Friday, so I still have a while before I have to turn it in.
The entire process to proving that the derivative of sin x = cos x can be found in later chapters, however. It's kind of amusing that an extra credit problem is written out completely and totally in our own textbook. As well as every textbook that has ever been written on the subject of Calculus. But I suppose the point of extra credit problems is to force people to learn and think harder. I think this problem really has done that for me. It taught me how to go back to using basic tools again, which will be important if I ever come back to problems that cannot be solved using more advanced techniques. It also taught me to read ahead in the book. You'll never know what you might find.
thinkandrew
Fishy-fishy Fish
I like fish. Fish is tasty. It seems to me that there are two types of people when it comes to fish. Those who are absolutely crazy about fish, and those who avoid it with a passion. I am a proud member of the first group, and I shun the second. Not really, but it doesn't make sense to me at all. I just love fish. There's something about the subtle smooth texture, or the varied flavor, or just the feelings that come along with it. Fish or pizza, I'll take the fish. Probably take it over ice-cream too, or even
stroopwafels. I honestly think fish is that good. Even the anchovies with the little beady eyes.
I've grown up eating fish, for the most part. When we lived in Malaysia, fresh seafood was never very difficult to get. There were wet-markets that we could go to which would have large displays of fish on ice. It was not very expensive, either. We would buy a fish, bring it home, then steam it, fry it, bake it, or do whatever we felt like with it. Then it normally got served over a plate of white rice, and we'd take tiny little bites of fish with a lot of rice to try and preserve the flavor for as long as we could. I like trout the best, especially when it's steamed in a plate with ginger, spring-onion, and chives. A tiny bit of gravy is normally present in the bottom of the serving dish, and we'll all fight over that to put on our rice. Really, it's so good that I could eat an entire plate of white rice with just that gravy.
Fishing is fun, too. I've never really been fishing much in my life, but I do have fond memories of it. I lived in Maine when I was 5 years old, and I sometimes fished there with some really good family friends that had a house on a lake. It was a long time ago, though I do remember it somewhat. Then we moved to a city in Malaysia, and I never got the chance again. But now that we've moved back into the US, we've been fishing quite a few times. All you need is a license, and you can go fishing as often as you please! There's a 5 freshwater trout a day limit, so anything over 5 is catch and release. But seeing how much my fishing skills lack, it's rare that I'll ever get five. I'll have a whole bunch of practice next summer, though, when I go to Sommer's Canoe Base in Minnesota. It's a Boy Scout camp that involves 100 miles, canoes, lakes, and lots and lots of fish.
Then there are the infamous anchovies. I think what puts most people off of eating them is the fact that they're served whole. The have little eyes, you can see the little scales, and they're all dried up and brown. They're also quite salty. But when served right, I really think they're very good. I ate them all the time when I lived in Malaysia, they were a regular appearance on various dishes. Sometimes, we even ate just dried anchovies as snacks. When spiced right, they're pretty darn good. When ordering pizza, people say they'll eat anything but anchovies. But honestly, when was the last time you saw anchovies on a pizza?
Fish is brain-food, too. That's what people tell me, at least. If I eat a lot, I'll get smarter. Go ahead, give it a whirl. You'll never know what might happen.
thinkandrew
Homework
It's been a while since I've been assigned any homework. I suppose that you could argue that all of my schoolwork used to be homework, as I did all of it as a homeschooler. Since I was doing it at home, I guess you could call it homework. But I define homework as any work that is given to me by a teacher, and must be turned in by a specific date. The way things are going, it may be a while longer before I get assigned any homework.
In my classes at SPSCC, my teachers rarely if ever assign any homework. I suppose it makes some sense on their part, as well. While doing homework problems certainly benefits the student, it's normally a lot of work to get it checked by the teacher. Especially when class sizes range from 30 to 50 students. It would be a lot of work to assign a number of problems, then to check each and every single one for every one of your students. It's probably even worse than the student doing the homework itself, as the teacher would have to mark down
why something is wrong. That can be infinitely more difficult to figure out.
My Japanese teacher does not assign any homework, though. It's a fun class, but it's not very difficult. We are going at a pace which I feel is quite slow, though there are students in the class who are still struggling. We've been assigned homework twice, but both times it only involved writing down sentences using different vocabulary that we had learned. After I turned them in, I never saw them again, too. The teacher has admitted herself that she's kind of lazy to grade the homework that she assigns. Our class is very interactive and vocal, though, so most of the learning process happens there.
For Math and Physics, the teachers never assign homework, unless it's a take-home quiz. They do, however, assign practice study problems quite often. The distinction between the two is that the practice study problems do not need to be turned in. If you have a question, though, you can bring it up during class, and he'll explain it. I guess the basis behind not assigning turn-in homework is that the teachers feel that you should trust yourself when it comes to studying. It would be very difficult for them to check every student's homework. But if you want to do well in the class, you'll do the practice problems anyway. Not doing them will probably mean that you'll have no practice doing any of those problems, and you'll be in a lot of trouble when it comes to something important, like tests. Thus, it's in your best interest to do all of the practice study problems that come around.
Apparently, they help. I just got back my Physics test from Thursday, and I'm pretty happy with how I did. I got a 110 out of 125, which is good enough for a B+. I could have gotten a perfect score, in fact, I realized exactly what I did wrong the moment I left the room. At least knowing that I made a mistake means that I'll be less likely to make such mistakes in the future.
thinkandrew
Back to School
Tomorrow I head back to school. The weekend is over, as are the fun activities that came with it. The short lived responsibility-free life is over, and I have to go back to a schedule, work, and people counting on me to accomplish things. There's nothing wrong with that, and in fact, I enjoy it. But there is also something to be said for just relaxing every once in a while. I wish I could do that more.
I've had a really really long weekend, and it has been nice. When I say long, though, I don't mean the weekend in general. That zipped right by like a bullet. The days that it comprised of, though, seemed like they were never going to end. I wrote about my PLU trip yesterday, though I didn't note how tired I was at the end of it. It was a lot of fun, attending a football game, and I had a great time. But when you wake up at 7 to get ready for it, and don't get home until past 10 at night, you sort of fall into your bed without even realising it. But I had to post on my blog first. It was a long day, to be sure. The funny thing is, I didn't actually fall asleep until around midnight. Sometimes, the more tired I am, the more difficult it is for me to get to bed.
My brother had come down from the University over the weekend, too, so that was nice. He's been really busy up at his new school, but he's only about an hour north of us. That way, he can come down and visit every once in a while. It's been two weeks since he left for school, so we thought it'd be a nice time for him to come down for the weekend. I didn't see him at all on Saturday, though we spent the day together as a family today. We went to church in the morning, had lunch, then packed up the car to send him back up to Seattle. We had brought a lot of stuff for him, as his first two weeks at school had shown him what else he would need while in school. We brought up another shelving unit, a refrigerator, and lots and lots of food to stock it with. Mom is constantly packing food away now, she does so every time she cooks a new dish. Extra gets taken off from every dish, put in a container, then stuck into the freezer for when he comes down to get it. This way, his new fridge was stocked even before he put it in his room.
Then, we went with him and one of his friends from down here for dinner. Dinner was quite good; we went to a Thai restaurant about a five minute walk off campus. I ordered my food extra spicy, and it was pretty spicy, though not unbearably so. The portion was rather large, so I was just barely able to finish it. Then we sent them back to their dorms, and started the drive back home.
It's been a very long day today, too. Two long days in a row. I'm going to go to bed soon, so that I will be able to get enough sleep for school tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to school tomorrow. At least I know that I won't be up on my feet all day.
thinkandrew
Every Man A Lute
That is the principle behind Pacific Lutheran University's football team, and it is what my Boy Scout troop has been modeled after ever since we were first commissioned partly by PLU in the 60's. Every Man A Lute, or EMAL, as it is referred to, was adapted into Every Scout Absolutely Matters, or ESAM, as it is called in our troop. It's a big part of our troop's principles, and Scouts that exhibit great ESAM spirit are recognized at every Court of Honor. It's a principle that we are encouraged to live by.
But that is not the only connection that we have with Pacific Lutheran University's football team. For ten years, we have been following a tradition. Every May, in the off season, members of the PLU football team come to our troop for a day of leadership training, fellowship, and activities. It lasts for the entire day, where we'll talk about the different principles that they use for leadership in their football team, and how to apply them to our troop. It's a great program, and it's a lot of fun.
During the football season, though, we attend one of their homegames. It's usually about ten to fifteen people from our troop going, and we'll spend the day up at PLU. We'll watch the game, then attend one of their "afterglows", where the objective of the afterglow is to tell everybody exactly what they did right. They build each other up, offer encouragement, and never say anything negative about each other. They'll acknowledge mistakes they made, but always try to learn from them, rather than to dwell on them. It's a great practice that has rubbed off onto our troop as well. We did that every night during the Philmont trek, as well.
The game it self was a lot of fun, though. It was my first football game that I have attended, and it was very exciting. I have watched a few games on TV before, though, so I was already familiar with what was going on. We arrived there about 45 minutes before the game started, which I felt was a little early. However, it turned out to be a very good decision as all the seats were packed full by kickoff. It was very exciting, with people jumping up and down, yelling, and celebrating each great play. It was their homecoming game, so there were a lot of Alumni present as well. I even met a man that graduated from PLU in the 60's.
Exciting things were happening at almost every moment. In my opinion, PLU's offense was quite lacking. There must have been over ten interceptions, as well as two fumbles. However, their defense was spectacular. And since we're using the EMAL principle here, the whole team did very well. Whitman College had a first down at 2 yards to the end-zone, and they never made it. PLU continued to shut them down at inches to the end-zone, even on the fourth down. And since Whitman tried to go for the touch-down rather than a field-goal, PLU ended up with having to push the ball back all 100 yards. They got well on their way, too, with an incredible 50-yard pass. Unfortunately, the next play led to another interception.
In the end, we lost, with a score of 19-7. It's not a bad score at all, considering the fact that our offense was able to get a touchdown on a 20 yard rush. The defense was also phenomenal, as Whitman was only able to score two touch-downs and 2 field-goals after attempting over 90 plays in one game. Even though we lost, it was still a very good game. Every Man A Lute, to be sure.
thinkandrew
Popcorn
There is so much popcorn in our garage right now. It is incredible how much popcorn there is. Earlier today, there was enough popcorn in our garage to fill two vans to the brim. The whole garage smells of popcorn, you can smell the caramel the moment you walk in. And we have to sell it all.
When I say we, I mean the whole troop. We're selling popcorn as part of our fundraiser, and if you've read my blog consistently for the past month, you probably already know that. When I was in school this morning, mom and a volunteer from the troop went to a local warehouse to pick up the popcorn. They took two vans, and both were filled to the top. It's a huge warehouse, though there wasn't that much popcorn inside. Even then, there was over 200K worth of merchandise inside. It may not look like a lot when it's in a big warehouse, but trust me, 200K of popcorn is A LOT of popcorn. We had nearly two pallets of popcorn. Then, all of that got transferred to our garage. Mom left a walkway through the middle of the pile, so that I would have a place to park my bike. It's kind of hard to maneuver it around the boxes, though.
But this popcorn that has arrived at our house is not the popcorn that we will be delivering in November. This is the "Show and Sell" popcorn, which means it is the popcorn that we'll be able to check out and sell in front of stores. Most people are familiar with Girl Scouts selling cookies like that, but few people are aware that Boy Scouts sell popcorn this way, as well. People have been coming over here all day today to check out popcorn, as the Show and Sell programs started today. Some people even came back tonight to return the popcorn that they did not sell during their shift. In the end, though, popcorn that we did not sell through Show and Sell will trickle down into our order-sales, so that we can use them to deliver.
We've been living and breathing popcorn for the past month. It's been about 4 weeks since the sale started, and I've been out selling for over 20 hours now. And now, I'll be going out for another 20 before the sale ends. It's a great fundraiser, and it's working really well for me, though I'll be very glad when it's over. I just don't really want to think about popcorn right now. But when it's time to go out and sell, I'll be out there. Next year too. Even though it's waaay to early to think about that right now.
thinkandrew
Time Management
It's been tougher and tougher for me to go to bed on time recently. I do not have a set bed time, but I try to get into bed before 11 pm. I need 8 hours of sleep to feel good in the morning. I can make do with less, but I really do feel it in the afternoon. I didn't get to bed until past midnight two days ago, and I nearly fell asleep in my Calculus class. Not a good thing to do when you're sitting in the front row. Fortunately, we were going over a lot of review, and there was nothing much that I didn't already know.
For the past few days, I've been getting to bed around midnight. It's not that I have a whole bunch of stuff to do, so much that I can finish it until then. It's mostly a problem with time management. I'm a really busy person right now, what with scouts, school, piano, and a whole bunch of other stuff going on. There have been some tests going on at school recently, I'm working on a piano concerto, some jazz stuff, and I'm now the Senior Patrol Leader for my troop. I haven't had a problem with staying on task. I've been able to fulfill my responsibilities. It just seems that I'll always have time to do them later, and when later gets here, I have to do everything at once. It doesn't overwhelm me, and I get everything done correctly, it's just that I end up sleeping a lot later than I normally would.
I really feel those effects in the morning, too. Last night was particularly bad, I woke up at 8:15, with my first class at 9. I suppose I didn't have to stay up so late last night, as I was just doing some extra physics studying for the test that I had today. I had already studied before, this was just to make sure that I hadn't forgotten anything. But when I woke up at 8:15, I actually felt groggy enough to fall asleep for another 10 minutes. By then, it was time to hop on my bike and head down to school. I guess that's a consequence that I'll have to learn from, and I really am trying to do so.
The good news is that I'm catching myself before I fall any further. I know how easy it can be to become totally swamped in your own work. I hear people tell me all the time about how busy they are, and I wouldn't say that I'm any less busy. It's just that some people procrastinate even more than I do, and reach the point where everything is due tomorrow, and they haven't even started yet. Fortunately, I have not yet reached that point. I have no intention of doing so. On time is no longer and option for me. Now it's going to be before it's even due. Time management is a very important thing to do, and you'll be surprised and how much you can accomplish when you set things straight.
I say that I've done a pretty good job today. I went to school, took a physics test, then worked an hour at the math lab. I rode my bike back up the hill, instead of taking the bus. I even set a new personal record: 5 minutes to get up the hill! Then I had two piano lessons, went to the library, came home, practiced piano, then went out to sell popcorn. I sold popcorn for about an hour, then came home, ate dinner, watched some TV, and studied. And now I'm ready to go to bed. On time, for once. Lets hope I can do this tomorrow, too.
thinkandrew
International Visitors
I am an international kid. In the past 10 years, I have lived in three different countries. Next July is going to mark the longest period that I have ever lived in one house for, which is three years. Having been around so much, it would only make sense that my blog gets international readers as well. My site has a hit counter down at the bottom of the page, with which I can track the different computers that visit my site each day. It also tells me which country they are from, and it's pretty interesting to check it out.
A lot of my international visitors come from Malaysia, which is no big surprise. I lived in Malaysia before I moved here, so I still have a lot of contacts in South East Asia. I still speak with some of them on a regular basis, though contact has broken down slightly over the past two years. After all, it's difficult to stay in contact when there's a 15 hour time difference. Anytime I'm awake, they're normally asleep. But they do read my blog, and I read theirs. Occasionally. Actually, through blogging, I've come in contact with people that I haven't heard from in a very long time, people that I lost contact with even when I was still living in Malaysia. It's been pretty interesting, and it's also been a lot of fun.
If you look at the right sidebar on my blog, you'll see that I've linked to several other blogs. These blogs all belong to my friends, and they're all filled with quality writing. I enjoy reading them a lot, and would enjoy it more, if they decided to post more often. Notice the subtle hint. They link to my blog as well, and thus, people that read their blogs will inevitably read my blog as well. It works the same way vice versa. In fact, I've gotten a lot of readers from links on my friends' blogs. It's a strange feeling to know that someone you've never met or heard of before is reading your personal thoughts. I guess that's why blogging has become so popular over the last few years.
Of course, sometimes I get readers that I have no idea why they would read my blog. It's become sort of a game for me, to check my hit counter every day and see what far off places people that read my blog come from. It's pretty fun, too. People from all across the country read my blog, including a few from Canada and one from Mexico. I've never met these people, but just by random websurfing, they happen to come across my little corner of the Internet. Sometimes it's from clicking on random blogs off of a list that Blogger provides, other times it's through web searches. I've gotten a lot of hits from Google searches, mostly due to people searching for something that I've written about before. Just today, I got a hit from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I've heard of Bosnia, but never Herzegovina. He/She read my blog because he/she was Googling "famous orcas". It's pretty neat what will show up some times. I've gotten hits from Pakistan, Australia, Denmark, Japan, China, the UK, and all over the US. I wonder who will read about my life tomorrow.
thinkandrew
Commuting
I ride my bike to school every morning. Commuting by bicycle is just the logical thing for me to do. It's not very far; it's barely more than a half mile. The route is mostly downhill, so I can get there pretty fast. I don't drive, and it sure beats walking. This is now the third week that I've been doing so, and it's become somewhat of a routine for me.
Every morning, I put on my helmet, jump onto my bike, and start pedaling. There's a flat section of road that lasts about a quarter mile, then it slopes downhill for another quarter mile down to SPSCC. I can normally get there within five minutes, if traffic isn't too bad. At that time in the morning, there usually aren't many cars on that stretch of road. But sometimes, there are a whole bunch of cars running right next to me. There is a bike-lane on the far right of the road, and I normally ride in that. However, I need to turn left to get into the school. That means that I need to change two lanes over to get ready to turn. It's normally no problem at all, but every once in a while, there will be some crazy maniac that will burn up the tarmac behind me, with his horn blaring all the way. Geez. Cyclists have a right to the road, too, you know.
There are several different bike lockers at SPSCC, strategically placed all over the campus. They look like little gazebos, with chain link walls. There are 6 bike spaces to a locker; each one individually locked. There is a large hook inside each slot, from which you hang the front wheel of your bike. Hung vertically, you just shut the door, and lock it down with a padlock that you have to bring yourself. They're quite handy, especially when one is right next to the building in which your first class is in. Everything has to be removed at night, though. Some people don't make use of these bike lockers, and just chain their bikes up to the railing of walkways. I suppose that works as well, but why on earth do you suppose that they put bike lockers all over campus!?
Getting down to school is absolutely no problem whatsoever. It's cycling back up to the top that's the problem. The road up to the top is fairly steep, and can be difficult to cycle up. I normally have to gear way down on my bike to get up to the top, but by doing it every day for 3 weeks, I've been able to do it faster and surer. However, I've discovered that the bus will take me up the hill, along with my bike. I've been aware of this before, but the thought never came to me. All buses have bike racks on the front, and the first bus stop after the school is right at the start of that flat stretch of road to my house. Thus, by loading my bike onto the rack and using it to get up the hill, I can cut down my return commute time by more than 10 minutes. I'm not sure that I'll continue doing that, though, I think I need the exercise.
thinkandrew
It's getting colder
This morning, I hopped onto my bike to ride down to school. It's the fifteenth time that I've done this now, since school started two weeks ago. There was nothing new that I expected as I sat down on my bike. After all, I've done this for quite a while already. Two weeks is plenty of time to get into a routine, and I've already pretty much done so. I climbed onto my bike, put my foot on the pedal, then pushed down. As I went outside of the garage, and gained speed, I began feeling a numbness that began in the very tips of my fingers. That feeling continued up my arms, and all the way to my body. As I increased in speed, the numbness increased with it. It was freezing cold!
This morning was one of the coldest mornings that we've had in months. It was barely 50 degrees Fahrenheit this morning, not to mention that there was a slight mist in the air. This moisture acted on my bare hands the way that sweat does on skin; it removed almost all heat from the surface of my skin. When I reached the bottom of the hill, and school, the tips of my fingers had turned almost entirely white. The cold air made my breathing faster and less effective, as each icy intake nearly took my breath away. Soon, it will become so cold that I won't be able ride my bike down to school anymore. When the roads turn icy, it will be too dangerous to do so, as well.
This year, we had a very hot and a very dry summer. It reached around 105 degrees in July, with no rain coming down over the entire season. The heat was bearable, but your skin would turn sticky just by stepping outside. Ice-cold water was worth its weight in gold at every public park. Bottles of water with ice-cubes floating inside quenched thirst so much, it was like drinking the proverbial "nectar of the gods". But now, warm drinks are the new "in" thing. I've never been a large fan of hot drinks, but a steaming cup of hot chocolate is beginning to sound better and better as I reach school every morning.
When I was at Philmont, I always wore long pants when hiking. It's just a personal preference, I feel more comfortable that way. It may be warmer, but it helps to keep the bugs, brush, and bracken off of my shins. However, the pants that I would wear are the convertible-type pants, with the zip-off bottoms. It was very nice to relax in shorts while in camp, or to cool my feet off in the stream that flowed past our site. Long underwear is now very comfortable to wear at night, and I've been doing so. I may even begin wearing socks to bed now, as I find myself in the morning with my feet curled up to keep themselves warm.
Fall has already started, and winter is fast approaching. I'm going to start wearing heavier coats now, and maybe even some sweaters. It's been a fun summer, and I'm sad to see it go. But cold weather promises new things, which can be equally exciting. Fall is bringing out so many different colors, which cover pumpkins, leaves, and the fall wardrobe of people at school. Winter promises a new snow cover, which means skiing, snowboarding, and my troop's annual winter camping trip. The rest of this year looks promising.
thinkandrew
Eagle Project
A crashed B-24 on top of Trail Peak, Philmont Scout Ranch, NM
I attended Erik's Eagle Scout Project this afternoon. Throughout Scouting, volunteer service hours are always required for rank advancement. Volunteering oneself to others is a very big part of Scouting, and is always looked upon with the highest regard. In fact, to become a Star and a Life Scout, you are required to spend 6 hours doing volunteer work.
The rank of Eagle Scout is meant not only to display the highest ordeals of Scouting, but to create and show young leaders. Leadership must be displayed to become an Eagle Scout. That's why volunteer hours for Eagle must not only be done, but they must also be planned out and lead by the candidate. To become Eagle, you have to plan out, organize, and lead a group of scouts to complete a volunteer project that has a specific goal. A full report is required of this project to pass your Eagle Board of Review. There is a lot of paperwork involved in such projects, and they're always a lot of work.
There seems to be a trend among Eagle Projects, that they tend to involve plants. Most Eagle projects that I have attended involved weeding, or the pulling out of large plant growths. They tend to be done over a weekend, over one to three shifts. One that I recently attended involved weeding a garden at an elementary school, then re-mulching all of the beds. We also built a compost bin. The work wasn't terribly hard, and the project was done within 6 hours.
Most Eagle Projects tend to be completed during the summer, which makes perfect sense. The summer is when most people are free, and when the weather still permits outdoor work. Every Eagle Project that I've ever been to involved outdoor work, though I have heard of a few spectacular ones that were done indoors. Right now is still a good time for Eagle Projects, and there are 2 or 3 happening at the moment. Once Fall really starts to kick in, though, the rain will come, and all outdoor work will be suspended. The way my rank advancement has been going, though, I'm going to have to do my Eagle Project over the winter. I'd like to do something at SPSCC, and hopefully indoors.
Erik's Eagle Project is definitely one of the coolest ones that I've ever been to. There is a large totem-pole that sits along side the street in downtown Olympia; it's been there for about 30 years. It was first erected as part of another Scout's Eagle Project, where he carved it as a memorial to the blind. However, 30 years of weather had really done some damage to it. Nearly all of the paint was gone, and there were large cracks in the woodwork. Erik came in and stripped off the old paint, caulked all of the cracks, and repainted the whole pole. I was there this afternoon helping him with some of the detail-painting. This project is unique in the fact that only about 5 people can be working on it at any given time. There's only so much room on the pole to work on. Also, several layers of paint must be applied for it to be done right, and thus, time is required to allow it to dry. The project has lasted almost a month now, but it's finishing up. It's going to look spectacular when it's done.
thinkandrew
