So it's a Friday night and I'm doing homework (working on my research paper on international development, rather). Sigh.
My trip to NYC was pretty fun, but very tiring. We went and saw Ground Zero, Wall Street, Times Square, Central Park, and Yankee Stadium. And we passed by Madison Square Garden, and saw the Empire State Building and the Liberty of Statue from afar. But man it was tiring! On the day, my roommate Luke and I must have walked about 200 blocks. (70 of that was to and from the bus station in central Philly.) I'm too lazy to put pics up, but maybe I'll get around to it at some point.
NYC was way bigger than Philadelphia. There were tall buildings everywhere, so that vast swaths of the city were blanketed in shadow. Fruitwise, comparing NYC to Philly is like comparing apples to oranges. And then Philadelphia compared to Eugene is like an orange to a grape. ... To make this more accurate, you have to remember that NYC is a big apple (get it?). And then Philadelphia is a mandarin orange, which is smaller than normal oranges. And Eugene is... a raisin. All shriveled up compared to these cities. (To those who love Eugene but hate raisins, I'm sorry.)
I know, that analogy was horrendous.
Anyways, I have a lot of homework/other work this weekend, and I'm not happy. And I have to find a costume for a character in Marvel v. Capcom for an Ultimate tournament next weekend. Not happy. And it's still frickin hot here! I know the great majority of you readers out there cannot empathize, because you are shivering and blow-drying your feet, perhaps getting pelted by hail. But heck, I sweat myself to sleep. Awesome.
Anyways, the one thing I'm getting really pumped about is Ultimate. Not particularly my playing, nor the conditions of the field we practice on (it's going to be waterlogged after the sort of rain that just came down). Just the team. I feel like we have a pretty good team, and the region we play in is not that strong, so there's a good chance we can make it to Nationals in May! I'm going to do my best to get us there.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
New York! And some pictures.
Yeah! I'm taking the bus up to NYC tomorrow with my roommate Luke. I haven't been to the city, but he's been there five times, so we shan't get lost. We're planning to hit up downtown, midtown, and uptown, so I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures. Speaking of which...
I've decided to take more pictures with my phone, so that you can actually see for yourself what the heck is going on in my life. So here are some pictures...
A view of the Schuylkill River. Halfway between campus and downtown.
People doing the Macarena on the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This museum is the one with Rocky on the (outside) stairs (or so they say, I never watched the Rocky movies). Also, did you know that Penn spends the most of any U.S. university on orientation stuff? No wonder tuition costs so freakin much. The picture was taken a while ago, obviously.
My biology lecture. We had a guest speaker on that day.
Locust Walk on a lazy Friday afternoon. I take Locust Walk every day of the week to get somewhere, whether to get to classes or to head to the Commons to eat. It's usually a lot busier than the picture shows.
The Upper Quad gate (yeah I know, crappy picture, I took it while walking). Unfortunately I don't live in the quad.
I've decided to take more pictures with my phone, so that you can actually see for yourself what the heck is going on in my life. So here are some pictures...
A view of the Schuylkill River. Halfway between campus and downtown.
People doing the Macarena on the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This museum is the one with Rocky on the (outside) stairs (or so they say, I never watched the Rocky movies). Also, did you know that Penn spends the most of any U.S. university on orientation stuff? No wonder tuition costs so freakin much. The picture was taken a while ago, obviously.
My biology lecture. We had a guest speaker on that day.
Locust Walk on a lazy Friday afternoon. I take Locust Walk every day of the week to get somewhere, whether to get to classes or to head to the Commons to eat. It's usually a lot busier than the picture shows.
The Upper Quad gate (yeah I know, crappy picture, I took it while walking). Unfortunately I don't live in the quad.Sunday, October 7, 2007
Just some thoughts and happenings
It's a Sunday night, and I should be studying/doing homework like mad. I am so behind, and possibly seriously screwed for midterms, and my research project. But ah well!
And it's still so freakin hot here! Mid-80s. I don't think it's dipped below 75 since I got here in late August. BUT it's supposed to cool down to low 60s this weekend! And this weekend is fall break! Booyizzle!
I went to church today... for the first time since arriving at Penn. The church was actually a university branch of Grace Covenant Church, whose main line is located further off (there is also a branch at Temple University). And it just felt really good to be in church again. After being away from a place of worship for so long, I just felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over me as worship started, almost to the point where I teared up. My faith had never been completely solid until the mission trip, and now I feel like I can't lose it. So going to church today was a really good experience.
So about the church. Service was located in a small auditorium-like room underneath a Penn building, and there were a LOT of people. And mostly Asian at that, which was a change of pace. So many Korean and Chinese people! (I do believe that there are few Japanese Christians; even in Japan Christianity does not hold much sway - most practice Shintoism.) The worship and hymns were alright, but I ended up almost screaming the worship songs because of 1) the loud instrumental, and 2) the masses of people doing just what I was doing. I miss the feeling of singing hymns in small groups, where the worship music just sounds more... beautiful, especially when the occasional harmony presents itself.
The pastor was a hoot. I say that in a semi-good way, because he was possibly the funniest religious man I have ever heard preach. I had a comedian preaching to me today about marriage and relationships (this is not meant to be demeaning). I mentioned that it was only semi-good, because the comedy seemed to dilute the meaning of the message for me. And the sermon went WAY too long, to the point where I got restless and started fidgeting. I'm going to try out some other churches in the area. Good thing there is a bevy of churches in the area.
If you want to know about the rest of my day, here it is. I soon thereafter went to a biology review session, where students basically asked the professor questions. (This was the boring one of my two biology professors - the other is a quirky British guy who emphasizes the superiority of England to the U.S.) I didn't really get anything out of it, so I just left. Then I went to the gym, where I witnessed an abso-frickin-lutely cult-like ARMY of people running in place, eyes glued to televisions on the wall. It was pretty mind-blowing. I decided against working out my lower body.
I'm going to study. And maybe later get my ass kicked at ping pong. I have like a 1-13 record against this one guy from LA, and I'm set to play him again tonight.
And it's still so freakin hot here! Mid-80s. I don't think it's dipped below 75 since I got here in late August. BUT it's supposed to cool down to low 60s this weekend! And this weekend is fall break! Booyizzle!
I went to church today... for the first time since arriving at Penn. The church was actually a university branch of Grace Covenant Church, whose main line is located further off (there is also a branch at Temple University). And it just felt really good to be in church again. After being away from a place of worship for so long, I just felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over me as worship started, almost to the point where I teared up. My faith had never been completely solid until the mission trip, and now I feel like I can't lose it. So going to church today was a really good experience.
So about the church. Service was located in a small auditorium-like room underneath a Penn building, and there were a LOT of people. And mostly Asian at that, which was a change of pace. So many Korean and Chinese people! (I do believe that there are few Japanese Christians; even in Japan Christianity does not hold much sway - most practice Shintoism.) The worship and hymns were alright, but I ended up almost screaming the worship songs because of 1) the loud instrumental, and 2) the masses of people doing just what I was doing. I miss the feeling of singing hymns in small groups, where the worship music just sounds more... beautiful, especially when the occasional harmony presents itself.
The pastor was a hoot. I say that in a semi-good way, because he was possibly the funniest religious man I have ever heard preach. I had a comedian preaching to me today about marriage and relationships (this is not meant to be demeaning). I mentioned that it was only semi-good, because the comedy seemed to dilute the meaning of the message for me. And the sermon went WAY too long, to the point where I got restless and started fidgeting. I'm going to try out some other churches in the area. Good thing there is a bevy of churches in the area.
If you want to know about the rest of my day, here it is. I soon thereafter went to a biology review session, where students basically asked the professor questions. (This was the boring one of my two biology professors - the other is a quirky British guy who emphasizes the superiority of England to the U.S.) I didn't really get anything out of it, so I just left. Then I went to the gym, where I witnessed an abso-frickin-lutely cult-like ARMY of people running in place, eyes glued to televisions on the wall. It was pretty mind-blowing. I decided against working out my lower body.
I'm going to study. And maybe later get my ass kicked at ping pong. I have like a 1-13 record against this one guy from LA, and I'm set to play him again tonight.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Into October
We're into October. It's almost been an entire MONTH of school already for me, which just seems insane. I'm bracing for bio and calc midterms, which are next week...
The Penn Ultimate team traveled to Penn St. last week for the Penn State Fall Phling tournament. It was fun... and tiring. We stayed in a cabin thirty minutes from the fields, and it was in the middle of the woods. It was really dense forest, and it looked like the kind of place where you would expect a serial killer to pop out and chop your head off. (It was probably the deciduous trees... if you think about it, you wouldn't really expect a serial killer in a coniferous forest. Maybe a big bear.) OH and another thing, the dude who was driving our car ran over a live deer. It had already been hit, and it was laying on the road. The dude didn't see it until it was too late, and at that point the deer RAISED ITS HEAD, and a loud 'crunch' was soon both heard and felt under the car. It was the most traumatic experience ever (at least in terms of animal-related happenings). The next morning we took the same road to the fields, and there was a disgusting mess on the road.
Oh, by the way, we won the tournament. We were playing against mostly teams we were expected to beat. But we did beat Edinboro, which (according to the UPA) was ranked way above us. So, awesome. In our first game against Haverford, I got two handblocks and a layout Callahan (yeah I know, when does that ever happen to me???). But the Callahan was caused by a floaty throw by a Haverford handler, and I just laid out for it as if I was on offense.
And we're supposed to be scrimmaging against Princeton this weekend. (Doesn't that just sound weird? I'm going to play Ultimate against Princeton. What??? It just seems unreal, because the Ivy League is not just a faraway concept any more, it's a reality. I actually still get surprised when someone reminds me that I'm going to school in the Ivy League.)
Anyhow, my biology class is causing me a lot of stress these days. Too much work! And I feel like I should be reading everything that is either assigned or recommended, so that I am as ready as possible for my midterms. I think part of that is caused by the perfectionist in me who wants everything to be complete - for my knowledge of this stuff to be really comprehensive. Bleh. And I'm getting pretty anxious because only 20% of all students can get an A with the curve... so I've got to be really ready for this exam, because most of the other students here will be.
And I'm really happy that I didn't get into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Penn, unlike those schools, doesn't have that too-good mentality, which is definitely a good thing. There aren't (many) snobs here. The only school that I would still like to go to more than Penn is... Stanford. It's on the West Coast, and has a bomb-shizzle Ultimate team...
The Penn Ultimate team traveled to Penn St. last week for the Penn State Fall Phling tournament. It was fun... and tiring. We stayed in a cabin thirty minutes from the fields, and it was in the middle of the woods. It was really dense forest, and it looked like the kind of place where you would expect a serial killer to pop out and chop your head off. (It was probably the deciduous trees... if you think about it, you wouldn't really expect a serial killer in a coniferous forest. Maybe a big bear.) OH and another thing, the dude who was driving our car ran over a live deer. It had already been hit, and it was laying on the road. The dude didn't see it until it was too late, and at that point the deer RAISED ITS HEAD, and a loud 'crunch' was soon both heard and felt under the car. It was the most traumatic experience ever (at least in terms of animal-related happenings). The next morning we took the same road to the fields, and there was a disgusting mess on the road.
Oh, by the way, we won the tournament. We were playing against mostly teams we were expected to beat. But we did beat Edinboro, which (according to the UPA) was ranked way above us. So, awesome. In our first game against Haverford, I got two handblocks and a layout Callahan (yeah I know, when does that ever happen to me???). But the Callahan was caused by a floaty throw by a Haverford handler, and I just laid out for it as if I was on offense.
And we're supposed to be scrimmaging against Princeton this weekend. (Doesn't that just sound weird? I'm going to play Ultimate against Princeton. What??? It just seems unreal, because the Ivy League is not just a faraway concept any more, it's a reality. I actually still get surprised when someone reminds me that I'm going to school in the Ivy League.)
Anyhow, my biology class is causing me a lot of stress these days. Too much work! And I feel like I should be reading everything that is either assigned or recommended, so that I am as ready as possible for my midterms. I think part of that is caused by the perfectionist in me who wants everything to be complete - for my knowledge of this stuff to be really comprehensive. Bleh. And I'm getting pretty anxious because only 20% of all students can get an A with the curve... so I've got to be really ready for this exam, because most of the other students here will be.
And I'm really happy that I didn't get into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Penn, unlike those schools, doesn't have that too-good mentality, which is definitely a good thing. There aren't (many) snobs here. The only school that I would still like to go to more than Penn is... Stanford. It's on the West Coast, and has a bomb-shizzle Ultimate team...
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