Aug 2007

Okay so here's a brief summary of the classes I'm taking:

Intro to mathematical logic- Really good professor and relatively interesting material I've got goodish feelings about this class

Systems and signals- EGR class about how to take an input signal change it through a system to get an output signal. the goal is to be able to construct/derive any one of the three given the other two. the teacher seems decent. goodish feelings

Organic Chemistry- known as the bane of some duke kids college existence. The teacher seems pretty enthusiastic which is always good but the question remains whether or not that will be enough to make up for the material.

Biological transport phenomena- looking at the way different fluids and molecules are transported throughout the body and deriving math equations to go along with them. the teacher seems to have a genuine interest in the material but still ends up being impressively boring. To stay awake in class today, I had to keep poking myself on my foot wound. I'm actually prolly most concerned about how this course progresses.

Other info: I have a beard. It's not the biggest one on the block but it definitely a beard. Most people seem to like it. I'm a fan, but I think its time I went back to clean shaven for awhile ( I haven't shaved in about a month and a half).

I found out the other day what intervarsity stands for. You see, the organization started a long time ago in europe when the word varsity simple meant college. So it was a Christian organization that extended between various colleges (Inter-Varsity). Neat.

So howdy doody, today is my last day before classes start. weird. The past few days went by surprisingly fast. What have I been up to though? the answer is not too much. I sat around all of one day in my short gym shorts (because its ridiculously hot), played on the computer, and hung out with alex and andrew. that has generally filled in my free time. here are some other random stories

I was sleeping in the air conditioned commons room, as were several other guys who couldn't sleep in the heat, when all of a sudden I awoke to loud rumbles and grumbles.

I open my eyes to see a tall awkward guy standing over me. then he reaches down and tries to grab my sleeping bag ( i was using it as a blanket) so i grab him with one hand the bag with the other and say "Hey!!! what are you doing! and he says "alkdsjfmsdlkjf" (drunk slurring grumble)" and I say "NO!" and it goes back and forth like this for a few minutes. Meanwhile another guy on a nearby couch is all like "what IS this!! Is this PISS? Did you PEE on me!! HEY!! did you PEE on me?!" The drunk guy is still pulling on my sleeping bag and a few words actually make sense "just need.... wipe.... up". " NO!" I order. After a little bit more tug of war the drunk guy eventually bag and walks over to his own couch. All the while, the guy who got peed is angry and still in disbelief. He's asking for other people's opinions as to whether or not the wetness on the cushion is indeed urine. I say, "nope, i don't want to stick my face near that" and then he says "you don't have to. You can just use your hand and waft the smell to your nose." I give it a shot. There's no odor, but Come. On. what else could it be? Carefully, I remove the cushion from the other guy's couch and push it aside, hoping for some reason it would help put an end to the ruckus and I could sleep.
This did not, of course, end the ruckus. The guy was still asking loudly whether or not he had really just been peed on. Another kid, spoke for the first time. "Yeah! you were. I saw him do it."
" What! why didn't you stop him?!"
"I dunno, he was already doing it when I woke up... and my brain was still moving slowly"
"Fine! I'm gonna piss on him!"
he walks over to where the drunk guy is now passed out before realizing that public urination on another person isn't really something he wants to do. Instead he takes the urine cushion and rubs it around in the drunk guy's dorm room down the hall, and on his pellow (pillow). Then he sets the drunk guy's alarm clock early (ooooooooooh thats just vile (lol) ). I introduced myself to the other guy who had witnessed everything, then we went back to sleep. It was an interesting night.

Next story: The other night IV had a leadership retreat that mainly consisted of us talking about the different orientation events and refreshen and strengthen us as leaders. It was also a great chance to meet up with all the friends I had made in rockbridge. We all slept over at a church and went out to tell freshman about our group in the morning. We also had a great game of ultimate frisbee where I managed to mess up my feet a lil bit more. For those of you who don't know, I pretty much lost the skin on the top of my left foot playing an amazingly fun, but physical game known as laptag. The other foot is scrapped up but not nearly as much. I haven't worn shoes at all, because my foot insists on healing to anything that is placed on top of it, which really makes for a painful removal. Soooo... that is why I was playing ultimate frisbee barefoot. I was chasing a disc when all of a sudden my right foot met hard resistance: a manhole cover. I basically made and ripped open a big blood blister on the ball of that foot. walking now pretty much sucks, but Im confident everything will heal up before too long.

One more:
Yesterday was katie yang's b-day so we went out to dinner at macaroni grill. We had reservations for 8 but the previous party was still there and seem to have no intention of leaving. They were finally asked to leave 45 minutes later and subsequently went in front of the restaurant (where our group was still waiting for the table to be cleaned up and set) to loudly finish mingling and chatting. All in all, we didn't quite care much for them i'd say. We ate and drew fun pictures on the paper table cloths then went back to katie and emily's apartment. We ate a really tasty oreo ice cream cake made by emily. We also played some awesome games. namely taboo, whooonu (like apples to apples), and qwitch (like speed or spit card game). By the time we finished, it was late and I didn't want to walk all the way back to my hot room on west or the commons room(/bathroom) so I crashed at fatema and christal's air conditioned place (next door). It was a good night.

K, thats about it. school starts tomorrow. aldsfkk. I'm excited, but nervous and I already miss free time. hope all is well with everyone.

Well, I made it home safe and sound from the woods. The trip was really quite fantastic and I even managed to keep a journal for most of it. Interestingly enough though, now that I've written it down I don't know if I want to post it online. I mean, its not that I don't think its worth telling or anything of that nature. On the contrary, I'm excited to answer questions about it and tell some tales. The problem is this, if I post the story then it is inevitably skewed by own views. Though that is invariably true of all experiences, I feel it has more signifigance here because I saw the trip from a bedouin's perspective and my crew, other pwilders, and even perspective freshman may stumble upon this blog. Not only do I want to keep some of the secrets of pwild secret from youngsters, but also I want to respect that the trip was, in all honesty, not my trip; it was the freshmans' trip and thus it is much more their story to tell than mine. That said though, I'd would still love to talk to people about it on an individual basis and will inevitable allude to various bits of it and tell exerpts. But the journal shall remain "for british eyes only" (well... my eyes only).

I do think I'll keep this blog however. It can be used simply to keep track of my times here at duke. I may not update super often, but I shall do my best to update the important, odd, and funny things. I suppose that is all for now. Good day all.

Howdy, howdy

A lot has happened in Staff training thus far so I'll do a very short summary. We went to Pisgah for staff training and revealings from thursday to saturday. It was pretty fun the first night I learned that I was a bedouin (the type of staffer who hikes around with the crew and such) as opposed to a djibutian (the rock climbing/base camp staffer). All in all I was quite satisfied with my placement. I hadn't been sure which one i'd be and I knew that being a bedouin is amazing, but I also thought it would be neat to have the experience of being a djibutian and see the trip from a whole new perspective. Our second night the crews were revealed. my co-leader is Melanie who is the little sister of one of my freshman bedouin leaders. I don't really know her well yet (that will change quite a bit) but she seems very nice and fun. Our djibutians are Charlie and Emily. Charlie is the Program Director. He's quite a cool southern guy. And Emily, Emily is fantastic. She was on my crew last year and just a joy to have on the trip so I'm def. excited to be staffing with her this year.

When we got back from the mountains (or home as a "man" might say) we had the staff partay. It was enjoyable, good music and friends. The next morning we moved all of our gear to the IM gym where the participants will eventually be sleeping. That was yesterday. We're still not done setting up and going over some of the procedures, protocals, and such. It's gonna be a full day. The participants come tomorrow! wow. its hard to believe its starting up so soon. We leave for Pisgah in about 3 days and are gone for roughly two weeks. I'm gonna try to keep a journal while on the trail and then put it up online, but..... we'll see how that works out. SO. I shall return in two weeks time with a bunch of stories. Good day.