Thanksgiving
There is truly much to be thankful for. There's family, friends, the opportunity and freedom that we have in this country, and even life itself. The sustenance of life is food of course, and there was no lacking of that this Thanksgiving holiday. When shopping for food on Tuesday evening, my mom commented that "the shelves looked like pictures from Poland before the end of the Communist Bloc", in the sense that nearly everything was gone. But even so, our table today was overflowed with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, green bean casserole, and stuffing, though the stuffing was cooked separately in a dish, I can't stomach the idea of food stuffed inside an avian body-cavity. All the food was wonderful, and a late lunch at 2pm left me digesting on the couch for many hours.
We can be thankful for puppies, too! My family has had a decidedly bad history with pets, we've never been terribly successful with them. Somehow, we always end up with sickly animals. Thus, we've never graduated to a pet larger than a hamster. Puppies were always on the list of wants, who couldn't want such an adorable pet? But years and years of my older brother and I asking simply didn't cut it, and we never got one. My older brother's in college now, and I'm graduating from high school. My younger, 13 year old brother asked for a puppy recently, and my dad said "sure, why not?" Go figure.
So, we have a new member of the family to be thankful for. His name is Oreo, due to the black coloring and the white socks and soul-patch. He's a MaltiPoo, a cross between a Maltese and a Toy Poodle. For the next 15 years or so, we're going to have a chronic toddler in our house. But he's such a joy to have around. With unbounded love, he hops around like a bunny, doing little two-steps with his front paws. Teething at the moment, he lovingly nips at everyone's toes and fingers. House-training is an adventure, just like potty-training a child. I love our new puppy.
And lets give thanks to that.
thinkandrew
Cut my Finger
I cut my finger practicing piano the other day. A
glissando, where a whole series of notes is played by dragging fingers across the keyboard, is a hazard that seems to come with the territory. Piano keys are hard and angular by nature, and fingers are not generally designed to run across them that rapidly. I have a gliss in my concerto, and I was practicing it repeatedly when I realized that my finger hurt. I looked at my finger, the skin on my knuckle was torn. Kind of like a really bad rope-burn. I squeezed, and a tiny drop of blood emerged.
Cool.
thinkandrew
Not Attending
For some reason, my math professor has decided that it is somewhat commendable to bend to students' whims. A previously scheduled math exam has now been shifted two days later, as well as all the homework assignments that were previously due on the day of the exam. Instead of turning in my three assignments and testing on Wednesday, none of them will be happening until Friday. This is the second time that my teacher has allowed such a postponing, and I really don't understand why. The test and the homework assignments were placed on the schedule two weeks ago, with ample time to study. A three-day weekend seems like just the perfect place for me to begin catching up on what I've been lax on. However, the majority of the class apparently didn't make use of our Veteran's Day holiday, and claim that "there isn't enough time to prepare". And thus, our change of schedule.
I prepared for the test already. I did all three of my homework assignments, created my notes sheet, and studied for the test as if it falls on Wednesday. And so, I shall take it on Wednesday. My teacher has given me permission to take it during class tomorrow, I shall sit outside in the hallway. If I've already prepared, why not? And when Friday rolls around, I'll be hanging out, not attending class.
thinkandrew
Bathroom
A new bathroom has been established in our home. For the past month or so, it has been completely non-functional, and I've had to use the bathrooms in other places in the house. It's really terribly inconvenient, to have to go downstairs in the middle of the night when I have the urge to go. But a water-damaged shower-wall and construction work all over the floor made it difficult to get inside. The shower had been water-damaged for quite a while, and needed some major repair work; our intention was to have it completely re-tiled. I'd suggested to my dad that I could probably do the job, but he made the very realistic statement that it would probably be nice to have it done within a certain time-period, rather than a lifetime of weekends that never seem to end. It's a very astute point, such major construction work is certainly within our own capabilities, but unrealistic to think that we can actually finish it within a respectable amount of time. Fixing our bathroom would involve demolishing a wall, installing water-proof backing-board, tiling and grouting, cutting a hole in the wall, and many more menial chores. I'll be the first to say that I was rather over-ambitious.
And so we paid someone to do it.
And now I have a bathroom to use!
thinkandrew
Chauffeuring
I do not understand why driving is a taboo only for me. While I don't think I'm the best driver in the world, I believe that I'm somewhat competent enough to be on the road safely. If I can ride a bike for 200 miles by myself, from Seattle to Portland, I should have the ability to drive from the mall back home, when my parents pick me up. But the innate sense of protection that parents have for their children has extrapolated into the stopping of self-destructive behavior, in essence, driving. And so, even though I need the practice, I'm rarely allowed in the seat with the steering wheel. I'll get to drive soon enough, I suppose, but it's just an annoyance of mine. Perhaps if I just stop asking and completely lose interest, I'll be pushed in an effort to stop the chauffeuring that my parents often end up doing for me. I don't know.
thinkandrew
Mines
Simply a bad cable connection can cause a lack of Internet connection that lasted from Friday evening until this afternoon. After over two hours on the phone, it was determined that 64 disconnections in the past 48 hours was highly abnormal, and that a technician should be sent over. In less than five minutes, he pinpointed the problem - our telephone cable was no good, and we simply needed to run a new one to the phone jack. I grabbed one out of the basement, snaked it along the kitchen floor, and voila! the Internet lives! The white telephone cable is just lying on the kitchen floor, though, most likely breaking fire hazard codes, acting as a trip-hazard in a high traffic area. Soon though, we'll run it through the wall, through the ceiling, or some equivalent method that will allow us to hide the cable. Or perhaps we can just leave it where it is. It reminds me of the trip-wires used to set off mines in World War 2. It adds the the gaming experience when playing Call of Duty on the PC.
thinkandrew
Reese's Pieces
I've got the SAT II Subject Tests tomorrow morning. At 8 am, I'll be sitting in a classroom at Olympia High School, taking tests in Physics and Mathematics. It really kind of sucks to be taking the Physics test now, because having taken a full year of Engineering Physics last year, I completely wiped it from my brain over the summer. Now, it's a race against time to see how many formulas I can re-cram into my brain. I'm glad that I decided to use an SAT prep-book, as most of the questions posed are theory-based rather calculation-based, as it was for my course last year. If I had only studied from my old notes, I'd be pretty much screwed. But that's the nature of the SAT, where we attempt to standardize the varied knowledge of very individual people. The same goes for Mathematics.
It's nice that the weekend is finally here. It seems like the days just seem to drag on through the week, and the very first thing we look forward to on Monday is Friday afternoon. I had a light load today, only having two classes. Even better, I was informed that the Monday after this coming one is Veteran's Day, meaning a surprise three day weekend is imminent.
It seems as if my life is of common interest. The gossip of the week at the Math Center is Andrew's life, especially pertaining to Boy Scouts and his HP Graphing Calculator. It feels nice to be loved, I suppose. But that was before my co-worker punched me in the stomach and stole the Reese's Piece that my friend gave me from his Halloween stash. Ow.
thinkandrew
