Wow! This week was so busy!
Ok! To start off, this week was opposite the other week in homework. I am crushed beneath a tidal wave of reading, papers, and math problems. Just the other night I was nearly impaled by a particularly sharp Integral sign.
Ah, but I complain too much. It is by no means intolerable or impossible.
Monday was fairly normal. Chemistry in the morning where we reviewed molar mass and chemical formulation, followed by Calculus in the afternoon. The real fun began in that afternoon's Fencing. We watched a DVD of the World Championship Fencers ( of Foil.)
We watched two matches. The first was between an Italian and another Italian of the same team. Because of this, the match was friendly, but still serious. The thing I came to realize about it was, this fencing in not our idea of movie fencing. When I thought of fencing, it was the ideas of Edmund Dantes or Three Musketeers, swashbuckling and fighting back and forth for minutes on end. No, this kind of fencing was more like a couple of snakes fighting. There is a lot of darting and feinting, quick steps and sword flicks, then a sudden stab or quick movement, almost often too fast to really see. The idea of it was to be the first to attack and land a true hit. Even if the other hits you before you hit them, if you initiate the attack and connect, you win the point. So you must parry or dodge their hit (parry being flick their sword of-target with yours), and then you gain the attack. If you can land a true hit then, you get the point. Theirs all kinds of ways to dodge and hit, riposting and disengaging and flicking, etc. Anyway, the Italian won (:P), and went on the final to play a German. This guy was interesting. The Italian way of fighting is very calm, and stationary, with quick flicks and movement. The German's style was constant, unpredictable movements, often with a fast sprint or charge. He eventually won. The instructor gave us a lot of insight about the matches. About how, the more you move, the more unpredictable you are, but the harder it is to set up a balanced hit, and the more you move the blade tip, the better you are able to penetrate defense, but are less well protected yourself.
Whew! Next day, I had Apocalypse Whenever, which has kind of been letting me down. I thought we would be getting into the what and why of the Apocalypse; what do these things mean? Why are they here? Why are WE here?! You, know, those deep questions. All we are really doing though, is examining it from an analytical point of view, as in, why is this persuasive? Why would the author do this? What does this sentence have to do with the others? This, while important, is just not very interesting to me. The packet we read recently, one of the thickest, most incomprehensible arguments I have ever read, did not help. Plus, all of the discussions have been difficult due to the fact that some of the group members are rather....er....outspoken atheists, who don't realize how much their words may be upsetting or hurting others. I know it is good to have different points of view in a discussion, but respect is paramount. It made even me, who I would like to think as fairly open-minded, squirm a bit. I have a feeling that they assume that others think as they do a bit more than is realistic. These hardly seem malicious, just not well thought out. Eh, but who knows. Things will probably get better.
Next, in Arthurian Lit, we finally got to the part in A History of the Kings of Britain that concerned Arthur and Merlin. It is at this point more than ever I realized how the author was not writing a history per se, but a fictional nationalistic piece meant to give the Britains a history to be proud of. It was very different than The Once and Future King. In King, Arthur was famous for his establishing a system of justice and defeating the concept of Might is Right. In History, he would conquer all of Britain and surrounding islands, shouting for the Britons to kill all of their enemies and calling upon the strength of God as he slaughtered thousands on the field. Next he would go on to take Gaul (France, I think) and keep going to challenge Rome. This battle itself contained no less than 120,000 soldiers on each side, a great many of which would be killed. He probably would've taken the whole known world had his treacherous nephew (bastard son in King) Mordred married his wife Guenevere and taken Britain out from under him. In the later fights, he would kill Mordred, but become Mortally wounded himself. Their is a very brief mention of him gathering knights to him and creating an advanced society, but a lot more was him killing. A lot. And giving a lot of gifts to nobles and people around him. Also! In this version, Merlin has nothing to do with Arthur's life or upbringing, just with his conception, which is put in a much better view than in King (which had it by abduction, rape, and trickery, as opposed to liberation trickery, and acceptance.)
Enough Arthur!
Tonight, that is yesterday, I went and saw 3:10 to Yuma with a fellowship/church group. It was an excellent movie, with great people (Christian Bayle, Russel Crowe, Luke Wilson, Alan Tudyk, and others), and a great story. It was deeper than I thought it was going to be, and with many sub-plots and excellent character development. But one thing sticks out in my mind. The title, for those who don't know, signifies to 3:10 Prison Train to Yuma Prison. Well, as that train pulled into the station, at that exact moment, the train that passes through Claremont about every hour or so passed by! It was perfect, with the train whistles blowing and the horn blasting...it was pretty cool. I wont give away anything, but a little plot summery is: Christian Bayle is an Ex-Military Rancher come on hard times, with little respect from his son and family. Russel Crowe is a surprisingly well educated, slippery, deadly outlaw, who is surprised and caught. Bayle becomes entangled with the catchers, and decides to join them for a $200 reward if he can get Crowe on the 3:10 to Yuma in 2 days. Crowe has quite a large gang on their tail though. It was a very well-done film.
Wow...I'm tired. Think that's it for the night, folks.
This didn't really seem WISE to me, but just kind of funny =D.
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.
-Albert Einstein
Friday, September 14, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
First day of college!
By first day I mean the two days that included all of my classes, that is. In any case, it was all pretty good!
So, after going to the Frosh Aid Dance on Sunday night (which was a lot of fun, where even I got the gumption to dance a bit), I enrolled for my classes and had only a few problems, which were quickly fixed. The final schedule has me taking Calculus 2, Chemistry 1, Arthurian Literature, Fencing, and Apocalypse Whenever. I will get back to how those went in a bit. That night, we went to a welcoming picnic at Pres. Oxtoby house, where, oddly, we had sushi appetizers, then ate scampi and salmon fillets while listening to the live Reggae band that was there, and had Italian Ice for dessert. All in all, a wonderful, eclectic night!
The following morning we all attended a Convocation. This saw us all gathered in the Bridge's Hall of Music (a old church) with all of the faculty in their nice dress robes, while President Oxtoby gave his welcome to us. Then a Professor Flaherty, head of the music department, came and played on his cello. His skill was incredible, and the beauty of the song sticks out in my memory. Then a special guest, Richard Hazlett, spoke to us about how important we are to the future, then somewhat pointedly about how important it was to ensure sustainability in California's water supply. In any case it was interesting, and now I am inspired to be a civil engineer! Just kidding.
Well, after that I had my first Arthurian Lit class. I was worried, since this class had 8 books total, but it was ok. The class has kids from all the schools and from all four years, with varying experience about the subject. The teacher is new, but has always wanted to teach a class on the subject, and is very enthusiastic. My first homework assignment was to go onto the Pomona site and watch Disney's The Sword and the Stone. It was fun, but now I finally understand more why dad wasn't so excited as we were to see new Disney movies. Now, I am neck deep in The History of the Kings of Briton by Geoffrey of Monmouth, circa 1135. It's actually pretty interesting so far, tracing the paths of the first rulers of the Isles. According to Geoffrey, Aeneas, one of the survivors of the Fall of Troy, had in his line a Grandson named Silvius, who would have a love affair with a concubine and give birth to a son named Brutus. He was to kill his father accidentally, and be banished for it. He would later come across a bunch of older Trojans, slaves brought from the war, and would set them free and set sail. He and his army (after much slaughter wreaked and villages sacked and blood running like rivers) would eventually sail to Britain (named actually for Brutus) and take over from the "giants" that inhabited it. Whew.
Later that night I went out with some friends and enjoyed delicious yogurt and smoothies before going to a conjoined church fellowship meeting and thanking God that we only had nuclear missiles and anthrax to contend with instead of 10,000+ strong Trojan armies.
Then today (Wednesday) I went to my Chemistry class. The teacher reminded me a lot of dad; full of great stories, friendly, and with plenty of excellent chemistry knowledge. I was reflecting on this when he suddenly poked a small pile of powder on a pedestal (Calcium Triiodide, Dad) which exploded violently with a sound like a gunshot, causing at least this writer and probably several others in the class to nearly wet their pants. "I didn't even make a mess this time!" said Prof. Taylor.
Next was Calculus, which was ok. The teacher, Prof. Unpronounceable Brazilian Name, seemed like a very nice man, but spoke with a strong accent. This made understanding his lecture on Riemann Sums nearly impossible, but I think I'll get used to it with time.
Finally, after a mad rush up some stairs and back down, then upon hearing directions back up again, I arrived at my Fencing class. The instructor (and this name fits his character very well) was an elderly man, maybe 60-70. Sufficed to say, not exactly what I was expecting. He was very funny , but in the way that was slightly mean and very deadpan, so you weren't sure whether to laugh or not until a second year student explained that he was nearly never serious. So, we stepped up and learned a bit about the proper stance for good balance and movement, how to hold the foil, and a few basic movements. He showed us a bit of how one might perry and counter, and the blade moved like smoke in his hands. No sooner had most of us touched his sword with ours was it expertly flicking ours aside and darting in our defenses. He was an expert in his time, and still would be if not for some injuries and a loss of stamina. He still knows his moves and has a story for every situation, though many of them seemed to revolve around himself, his wife (an Olympian fencer), or his students getting poked in the mouth and eyes during matches.
So! Excluding the first Chem lab I will have on Friday, these are all of my classes. They all look pretty fun and interesting, and I'm sure not worried about being bored this first semester!
Again, I leave you with a bit of wisdom learned recently:
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."
-Andre Gide
So, after going to the Frosh Aid Dance on Sunday night (which was a lot of fun, where even I got the gumption to dance a bit), I enrolled for my classes and had only a few problems, which were quickly fixed. The final schedule has me taking Calculus 2, Chemistry 1, Arthurian Literature, Fencing, and Apocalypse Whenever. I will get back to how those went in a bit. That night, we went to a welcoming picnic at Pres. Oxtoby house, where, oddly, we had sushi appetizers, then ate scampi and salmon fillets while listening to the live Reggae band that was there, and had Italian Ice for dessert. All in all, a wonderful, eclectic night!
The following morning we all attended a Convocation. This saw us all gathered in the Bridge's Hall of Music (a old church) with all of the faculty in their nice dress robes, while President Oxtoby gave his welcome to us. Then a Professor Flaherty, head of the music department, came and played on his cello. His skill was incredible, and the beauty of the song sticks out in my memory. Then a special guest, Richard Hazlett, spoke to us about how important we are to the future, then somewhat pointedly about how important it was to ensure sustainability in California's water supply. In any case it was interesting, and now I am inspired to be a civil engineer! Just kidding.
Well, after that I had my first Arthurian Lit class. I was worried, since this class had 8 books total, but it was ok. The class has kids from all the schools and from all four years, with varying experience about the subject. The teacher is new, but has always wanted to teach a class on the subject, and is very enthusiastic. My first homework assignment was to go onto the Pomona site and watch Disney's The Sword and the Stone. It was fun, but now I finally understand more why dad wasn't so excited as we were to see new Disney movies. Now, I am neck deep in The History of the Kings of Briton by Geoffrey of Monmouth, circa 1135. It's actually pretty interesting so far, tracing the paths of the first rulers of the Isles. According to Geoffrey, Aeneas, one of the survivors of the Fall of Troy, had in his line a Grandson named Silvius, who would have a love affair with a concubine and give birth to a son named Brutus. He was to kill his father accidentally, and be banished for it. He would later come across a bunch of older Trojans, slaves brought from the war, and would set them free and set sail. He and his army (after much slaughter wreaked and villages sacked and blood running like rivers) would eventually sail to Britain (named actually for Brutus) and take over from the "giants" that inhabited it. Whew.
Later that night I went out with some friends and enjoyed delicious yogurt and smoothies before going to a conjoined church fellowship meeting and thanking God that we only had nuclear missiles and anthrax to contend with instead of 10,000+ strong Trojan armies.
Then today (Wednesday) I went to my Chemistry class. The teacher reminded me a lot of dad; full of great stories, friendly, and with plenty of excellent chemistry knowledge. I was reflecting on this when he suddenly poked a small pile of powder on a pedestal (Calcium Triiodide, Dad) which exploded violently with a sound like a gunshot, causing at least this writer and probably several others in the class to nearly wet their pants. "I didn't even make a mess this time!" said Prof. Taylor.
Next was Calculus, which was ok. The teacher, Prof. Unpronounceable Brazilian Name, seemed like a very nice man, but spoke with a strong accent. This made understanding his lecture on Riemann Sums nearly impossible, but I think I'll get used to it with time.
Finally, after a mad rush up some stairs and back down, then upon hearing directions back up again, I arrived at my Fencing class. The instructor (and this name fits his character very well) was an elderly man, maybe 60-70. Sufficed to say, not exactly what I was expecting. He was very funny , but in the way that was slightly mean and very deadpan, so you weren't sure whether to laugh or not until a second year student explained that he was nearly never serious. So, we stepped up and learned a bit about the proper stance for good balance and movement, how to hold the foil, and a few basic movements. He showed us a bit of how one might perry and counter, and the blade moved like smoke in his hands. No sooner had most of us touched his sword with ours was it expertly flicking ours aside and darting in our defenses. He was an expert in his time, and still would be if not for some injuries and a loss of stamina. He still knows his moves and has a story for every situation, though many of them seemed to revolve around himself, his wife (an Olympian fencer), or his students getting poked in the mouth and eyes during matches.
So! Excluding the first Chem lab I will have on Friday, these are all of my classes. They all look pretty fun and interesting, and I'm sure not worried about being bored this first semester!
Again, I leave you with a bit of wisdom learned recently:
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."
-Andre Gide
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Opening Post!
So, this is my first post to all who read it (if the name didn't make it obvious enough) and I'm wondering what to write about....ummm...well I guess I'll start at the beginning!
This completes my first week at Pomona College, and though I am somewhat homesick, I have made a lot of friends from my hall and Orientation adventure (I'll come back to this) which have made the whole nerve wracking process of getting to know the campus and people much easier. I have most of my schedule now, including Chem 1, Calculus 2, Archery, Fencing, and Arthurian Literature, all of which sound pretty awesome. We also have to take what is called a critical inquiries class to develop our writing and discussion skills, and mine is called 'Apocalypse Whenever,' which should probably be frightening but to me just sounds really interesting. It is supposed to be about the Christian and Jewish ideas of the Second (or First, respectively) coming of the Messiah, and what it entails for this tiny blue/green rock of ours. Should be pretty cool.
Anyways, the Yosemite trip was pretty awesome. The first day, we woke up early to hike from Glacier Point all the way up Half-Dome, which, according to our advisor, should have taken about 6-7 hours plus Lunch break. Well, this estimate was a little teeny bit off, and we found ourselves at the base of Half-Dome, after a long and difficult hike, with over 2 hours of one-way hiking to go. So, a few of us adventurous ones decided to press on for a bit, and finally got to a 2 mile mark about 1/2 the way up Half-Dome (this was about Quarter-dome) which we thought was supposed to be the actual total height of the hike up. Still, a select few of us kept going, and got about 15 minutes of crazy fast hiking in before we had to turn around from lack of time (and a bit of exhaustion.) So, we turned around and headed back to our base camp at the start of Half-Dome, which I forgot to mention is at the top of Yosemite Falls, with a view I will never forget (and hopefully you reading too once I get pictures), and started to head down to the Valley. This would also be longer than we thought, and about 1000 painful rock steps later we descended down from Yosemite Falls to reach: Vernal Falls. This was very beautiful as well, but perhaps we missed a bit of it due the fact that it was 6:00 and we hadn't eaten anything but squished trail food since 11:00. More rock steps, a few slips and scratches and an assurance-of-pain-in-the-morning later, we were at the shuttle stop and almost back. It was about 7:00 by then. Needless to say, our head hit the pillows harder than the rockfalls that shaped most of the campsite we were in. I will take a second to write about our sleeping conditions, which were very good. We slept in Tent-Cabins, which are wooden decks with beds and a bit of furniture covered securely by a tarp, with a locking door. We slept very comfortably.
The reader must realize that I am not complaining at all about this first day. I had a ton of fun, saw some amazing views, and developed some wonderful friendships, all at the price of only a few sore muscles the following day. I would do it all again had I the chance.
The next day, we awoke late and had a wonderful leisurely breakfast of pancakes with whatever we wanted on them, and visited the Native American Museum, where we witnessed about the making of about 1/1000 of a Yosemite Indian cooking basket being created (some of the most detailed and amazing can take up to 4 years to produce!), and learned some of the tricks of creating arrowheads. We also visited the John Muir Gallery, which had many of the great photographer's own prints as well as an excellent gift shop. The rest of the day was spent on a nearby beach playing Frisbee and just relaxing.
The next day was our last, and despite the tardiness of the bus we managed to stop by the Mariposa tree reserve (at least, I think that was what it was called) and say some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world. One, the Grizzly Giant, was over 1800 years old, and the most gnarled and interesting tree i had ever seen. Then we arrived home, albeit a bit later than expected, without a hitch. The trip was wonderful, but it was nice to be back at Pomona.
Whew! Well, I am just about Scribed out. This was fun, and I hoped you all enjoyed reading it. I will record again as soon as I get a bit of free time and tell you my next adventure. =)
I leave you with this, a poem I found deeply meaningful on my trip:
"The Butterfly flitting from Flower
To Flower ever remains mine;
I lose the One that is netted
By me."
-Rabindranath Tagore,
Indian Poet
This completes my first week at Pomona College, and though I am somewhat homesick, I have made a lot of friends from my hall and Orientation adventure (I'll come back to this) which have made the whole nerve wracking process of getting to know the campus and people much easier. I have most of my schedule now, including Chem 1, Calculus 2, Archery, Fencing, and Arthurian Literature, all of which sound pretty awesome. We also have to take what is called a critical inquiries class to develop our writing and discussion skills, and mine is called 'Apocalypse Whenever,' which should probably be frightening but to me just sounds really interesting. It is supposed to be about the Christian and Jewish ideas of the Second (or First, respectively) coming of the Messiah, and what it entails for this tiny blue/green rock of ours. Should be pretty cool.
Anyways, the Yosemite trip was pretty awesome. The first day, we woke up early to hike from Glacier Point all the way up Half-Dome, which, according to our advisor, should have taken about 6-7 hours plus Lunch break. Well, this estimate was a little teeny bit off, and we found ourselves at the base of Half-Dome, after a long and difficult hike, with over 2 hours of one-way hiking to go. So, a few of us adventurous ones decided to press on for a bit, and finally got to a 2 mile mark about 1/2 the way up Half-Dome (this was about Quarter-dome) which we thought was supposed to be the actual total height of the hike up. Still, a select few of us kept going, and got about 15 minutes of crazy fast hiking in before we had to turn around from lack of time (and a bit of exhaustion.) So, we turned around and headed back to our base camp at the start of Half-Dome, which I forgot to mention is at the top of Yosemite Falls, with a view I will never forget (and hopefully you reading too once I get pictures), and started to head down to the Valley. This would also be longer than we thought, and about 1000 painful rock steps later we descended down from Yosemite Falls to reach: Vernal Falls. This was very beautiful as well, but perhaps we missed a bit of it due the fact that it was 6:00 and we hadn't eaten anything but squished trail food since 11:00. More rock steps, a few slips and scratches and an assurance-of-pain-in-the-morning later, we were at the shuttle stop and almost back. It was about 7:00 by then. Needless to say, our head hit the pillows harder than the rockfalls that shaped most of the campsite we were in. I will take a second to write about our sleeping conditions, which were very good. We slept in Tent-Cabins, which are wooden decks with beds and a bit of furniture covered securely by a tarp, with a locking door. We slept very comfortably.
The reader must realize that I am not complaining at all about this first day. I had a ton of fun, saw some amazing views, and developed some wonderful friendships, all at the price of only a few sore muscles the following day. I would do it all again had I the chance.
The next day, we awoke late and had a wonderful leisurely breakfast of pancakes with whatever we wanted on them, and visited the Native American Museum, where we witnessed about the making of about 1/1000 of a Yosemite Indian cooking basket being created (some of the most detailed and amazing can take up to 4 years to produce!), and learned some of the tricks of creating arrowheads. We also visited the John Muir Gallery, which had many of the great photographer's own prints as well as an excellent gift shop. The rest of the day was spent on a nearby beach playing Frisbee and just relaxing.
The next day was our last, and despite the tardiness of the bus we managed to stop by the Mariposa tree reserve (at least, I think that was what it was called) and say some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world. One, the Grizzly Giant, was over 1800 years old, and the most gnarled and interesting tree i had ever seen. Then we arrived home, albeit a bit later than expected, without a hitch. The trip was wonderful, but it was nice to be back at Pomona.
Whew! Well, I am just about Scribed out. This was fun, and I hoped you all enjoyed reading it. I will record again as soon as I get a bit of free time and tell you my next adventure. =)
I leave you with this, a poem I found deeply meaningful on my trip:
"The Butterfly flitting from Flower
To Flower ever remains mine;
I lose the One that is netted
By me."
-Rabindranath Tagore,
Indian Poet
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