Outpost of the World

I feel like life is pretty much perfect right now. (Hopefully I won't be eating my words later!)

• There's a package of cute, plastic nations waiting for me in the mail room! Yay~! XD
  
  
• I've been eating properly and hitting the gym--I love, love, love rowing. XD
  
  
• I'm getting a Daily Deviation on dA sometime in the next few weeks! (Gallery Mod: "lol I was waiting for my birthday to give you a dd")
  
  
• I'm a whole week ahead on my school work. :3
  
  
• There is a beautiful guy in my teaching group. ♥
  
  
• I have a new roommate for next year! She's really sweet--like a brunette Grace Poltrack. XD
  
  
• Weather permitting, I'm going home this weekend!
  

YAY POPO! XD

((If you're worried about getting caught-up in a potential friends-cut, leave me a comment.))

I saw a girl get hit by a car on the way to class this afternoon... But don't worry, she's okay. (And I didn't see it so much as I heard it...) XD Some guy in a car was trying to make a left onto a side street, so he waited until I was out of the crosswalk before turning, except out of nowhere, this girl flew by on her bike and cut right in front on him. I don't think he hit her head-on; my back was turned, but I heard a crashing/thud-like noise and turned around to see the girl in the middle of the crosswalk with her bike looking like it had seen better days. I feel guilty for not staying, but I needed to get to class. I was about to go back and help her up at least, but I saw the guy getting out of his car and showering her with concern, so I figured it would turn out all right. Really... I should have gone back. XD Clearly, grades are more important to me than other people. u__u;



I have a feeling that if I'm not careful, this week may in fact end up to be a whirlwind of FAIL. In every sense of the word. XD Counting today, I have five tests/exams to tackle over the next three days. I'm happy that the bulk of my worries will be over by Wednesday, but I still have an awful lot of studying and work to do. (I'm posting because I need a little break.) ;D This morning I had a German test, which I think went pretty well. Looking back, I used the wrong verb for one of the sentences in my essay, but they were close in meaning, and that's the only error I've managed to dig-up in hindsight. (Crystal... are duschen and waschen even remotely interchangeable?) XD

I was supposed to have a "pop quiz" in Java today, but we were too busy, so I would imagine that we'll have it on Wednesday. I'm really doing well in that class; last I checked, I had a 91%! And that's not including the 100% I got on my last lab. It's exciting to feel like I might actually be good at something in college. XD I know Java isn't all that hard to learn in the big scheme of things, but at the very least, I find it interesting, and I think that I might actually find BIT being a good fit, or even something in CS. :3

Tomorrow I have a test in Accounting, which could go either way for me, really. I'm doing alright on the homework and I understand the lecture, but in the past, that hasn't necessarily meant anything about my performance on exams. I also have a Macro Economics test on Wednesday, which I can already tell I won't do well on. It's not good to walk into a situation feeling defeated, but after trying some practice exam problems last night, I realized that I've been going to class and listening without listening, and taking notes without actually processing them. The class is just so boring. D: I'm not ADD, but I need to be in courses where I can take the lecture material and actually apply it to something. I got my first homework assignment in that class last week, so of course, I was overwhelmed, because without having any real reason to actively commit the information to memory, it all sort of slipped in one ear and leaked out the other, which means I had no idea how to answer most of the problems. And it's so vague. Nothing in that class seems solid, because it seems like all we do is mutate the same two or three equations over and over again without actually doing anything with them. More examples would be nice, I guess. D:

And finally, I have a math quiz on Wednesday. I think I'll do alright, since my quiz grades have all either been 5/6 or 6/6, though I can't say the same for the exam I took last week. I have no idea what was up with me, but I outright failed it, and I know it's going to come back to bite me in the ass just like it did last semester. (I'm hoping that the better quiz scores will counter balance the exam slightly.) I was just weird last week, especially on Tuesday when I had my test. I was forgetting to do things, I wasn't hungry, I had a series of awful headaches, ugh. I left an entire load of laundry downstairs for several hours before remember stick it in the dryer. XD I'm pumped this week though, so wish me luck!



I should have mentioned this sooner, but my housing for next year is officially taken care of. Yay! I'm rooming with Stephanie, which makes me one of the happiest people in the world. She came down to VT with her best friend since forever--Jackie--as her roomie, so I was pretty certain early on that I probably wouldn't be able to somehow get between them. (I mean that in a non-malicious way. I like both of them, but Jackie is like a casual friend whereas Stephanie is more like... a sister.) XD Anyway, I guess things haven't been working out as well as planned between the two of them, and since Stephanie wanted to stay on campus and Jackie wanted to move off, it all worked out when it came time to fill out the forms. (Except now I think Jackie hates me for stealing her friend, since she had hopes to coerce Stephanie off campus with her. And... we sort of filled out the forms behind her back, right before the due date.) ^^;

I'm really happy that I was able to meet Stephanie. I think its fate that someone I get along with so well--in this huge school--happens to live one door away from me. XD I didn't always feel like I was appreciated or cared for by my friends in high school. I've said this many times before. I'm a broken record, but I think that just means that at times, I was left pretty deeply wounded. They were nice enough, mostly, but because I simply attached myself to a group of girls who already knew each other and went to a different middle school than me, there were plenty of times when I really felt left out, though I'm not sure they ever noticed or cared since they had each other. I remember there being a "best friends only" birthday party that I wasn't invited to, which really stung. And then... they had some retarded name for their group with custom t-shirts and a handful of sleep-overs that they tried to hide from me, and of course, they did a lot of hanging out without me. I didn't bother to make new friends though, because when they were actually there for me, they usually came through. We had some good times, but... the bad times jut out in my mind considerably. D:

No, no, no, no, no. This girl turned out to be a crazy fucking bitch. OMG. ---> But college is a wonderful dissolver of cliques, and the best part about Stephanie is that she strikes me as the sort of friend I've always wanted but never had. Does that make sense? I think everyone has an image in their mind of what their ideal friend would be like, and Stephanie fits the mold. We have a ridiculous number of things in common, similar morals and attitudes and wants out of life, while at the same time, there's enough push and pull between us to keep things interesting. And then there's the fact that I suppose I simply feel wanted--in a platonic sense, of course. XD I like it that she goes to me for advice and sends me text messages every once in a while, no matter how stupid, and kicks my door when she walks by. It's dumb things like that can make a person's day a little brighter, and no one I've know previously had ever really taken that into consideration. I guess, for once, I just feel like I'm getting a good return on the amount of effort I'm putting into my friendship. XD It's always felt horrible lopsided in the past.


I went home over the weekend--it was fun, but I've cut the next few paragraphs because there's a bit of ugliness in there right at the end that some people might not care to read. :)

( Some vague details, because I can’t say too much... )

Actually, that sort of transitions into my next topic. I'm thinking about making my journal Friends-Only. In fact, I think the change will happen before or by the weekend. There's no real reason for me to keep this public anymore. Back when I first joined, I used to cross-post to different communities, so it made sense for everyone to have access, but since that's not the case anymore, I can do what I please. :D


One last thing... I don't post music here very often, but while riding the bus home over the weekend, I bumped into Vienna by Billy Joel. I've heard it before, but I think I was like, six years old, and thought he meant Vienna Metro, instead of the city. XD (Because when you're six, you're a newb!) Anyways, I'm quite fond of it. I've posted it here.


Best wishes!

Popo

...Hey, LJ! How about "Happy Birthday Popo-Licious" day? XD What a sad birthday this was... My family dropped me off at school this morning and had to leave quickly after due to circumstances beyond their control. I celebrated with my friends last weekend, and had a family party in the hotel last night with some apple pie and champagne and presents, but I really wish they didn't have to leave me today. But then again, I don't like it when they leave me at school anyway, so I guess I would most likely still be feeling pretty bummed-out whether it was my birthday or not. HOMESICK. D: But, thanks for the shout-out's Mike and Foxy. And Andy... your video message made my day. ♥

But to answer the question, I guess I'm most like Owl and Pooh. Owl, because I like to provide advice and opinions, whether or not they're asked for, and enjoy drinking mass quantities of tea. Plus, I think he's cool looking in the original picture books. And Pooh... because I love honey. XD ♥ Sometimes I'll take the bottle of honey off my shelf and suck on it like candy, or squeeze some on a spoon and try freeze it or make it into a lollipop. A'yup. XD

Sorry for being MIA over the last month, guys. I hope none of you thought I actually did chuck myself into the Duckpond. XD If you didn't catch the entry I'm talking about... don't worry. XD

Love,

Popo


PS Among the other interesting presents I received for Christmas and my birthday this holiday season, my sister gave me this really cool Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney Tote Bag that I've had my eye on. Yay! It's perfect for carrying books. :)

Oh, LiveJournal! How I've missed you so! TT__TT It's hard to believe—at least for me—but it's seriously been like, three months since I've made a normal post. Hopefully this entry will go well and I’ll be able to get back in the swing of things. It’s time for change! >:D

Speaking of the election, I did my part and voted yesterday. It was... interesting, to say the least. Not the actual voting aspect, but more-so getting to my polling place and waiting in line and all that. First of all, my voting location was in the middle of nowhere. It was at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, which is located in a desolate, barren field off of Interstate 81, and some four and a half miles from campus. As I have no car, and no knowledge of the area, I probably wouldn’t have been able to vote yesterday had it not been for a local community group shuttling students back and forth from their voting areas.

When I finally got there, I was shocked to see how tiny the place was. I mean, it was tiny. Queuing up was awful because they were trying to get three lines of people—each about a two-hundred or so deep—to funnel down this small, cramped back corridor of the church. ((It reminds me of graduation, when the entire senior class was forced to wait in the back of the Patriot Center. XP )) Everything was fine when I went to vote, but I was really happy to be out of there and on my way. I have no idea who was in charge of picking and choosing which students were supposed to vote where, but they need a new system. They sent the eight smallest dorms to the Blacksburg Library and Community Center—large venues. They sent the eleven largest dorms to, well, St. Michael’s. I don’t see a lot of sense in that, but… oh well, right? ;)



I wrote a few fun mini-entries over the last few weeks, covering all sorts of subjects. A lo of them were about my roommate to be honest, particlarly the early ones, but seeing as most of them were less than complimentary, they didn't get posted. I decided to choose one, and this entry was the clear winner. XD

"My room smells like curry and old ramen. My clothes smell like curry and old ramen. I smell like curry and old ramen.

I don't know what to do. O______O;

All my roommate eats is this freaking nasty, supposedly ultra-spicy ramen that reeks! She makes it for lunch every single day of the week and has it for dinner on occasion as well. The entire top compartment of her closet is just filled with boxes and boxes of it--it's like, an infinite supply.

At first, I didn't mind, because, you know, the smell hadn't permeated my sheets and clothes and the rug and my hair and all that. But now? When you walk into my room? You're hit with this disgusting blast of STINK that's reminiscent of week-old Indian food and B.O. I had my friend Sean come up stairs last night to get his opinion, and he flat out told me that yes, the room smells disgusting. I had Radeya--my spicy-food-loving Bangladeshi friend--check it out today, and even she said this placed smelled awf--OH GOD! NO! SHE'S MAKING SOME RIGHT NOW! TT____TT

Anyways, it must be pretty bad when someone from Bangladesh of all places tells you that your room smells like a nasty curried something-or-other.

I just don't know what to do. I've sprayed copious amounts of air-freshener/odor-removal spray around the room when she's out. I clean the microwave regularly. I have a normal air freshener in my closet. The windows are always open. SIGH."

I found out it wasn’t ramen. It actually was curry. Instant, microwavable curry. But that’s a non-issue now, so there’s nothing to worry about. There is an odor though. Have any of you been inside a Korean persons house? More specifically, their kitchen? There’s a smell… It’s like, pickled vegetables and ripe cantaloupe. That’s what my room smells like. I think Lori said she knows what I’m talking about. XP Anyways, I just mask everything with Oust and tactfully placed air-fresheners. I don’t know about Hahyung's side of the room, but mine smells delicious.

I also wrote this last week. It’s not roommate related, but still post worthy.

So--this boy from my Economics class, who’s been very blatantly trying to get my attention for the past two weeks, went out of his way to talk to me after class. It was cute. ^o^ I was on the phone with my mom on the way back from class, and I saw him walk up to me out of the corner of my eye, looking kinda… purposeful. I wrapped up the conversation, and before I knew it, he was walking beside me, trying to make conversation. I can’t really say he’s my type, but he seems very nice, for what it’s worth.

D’Awwww! XD We actually haven’t had class since that happened, but just this past weekend, I was out to dinner with a friend of mine, and he happened to show up at the restaurant with his family. Ironically enough, I was telling my buddy about him at the time. I looked up to see he smiling, waving figure in the window. LOL.



I’ve met a handful of people here who I can say I’m close with, though there’s only two people I can really say I’m particularly chummy with. One is Sean, who I met way back at orientation. He’s my awesome, gay male friend who I can talk to about anything and is always willing to hang out. And then there’s Stephanie. We hit it off instantly. She loves Nintendo ((Her first care package included an SNES and some games.)), loves anime, likes to draw, is totally normal/not an otaku, and conveniently lives with DS range of me. ((There’s one room between us.)) I can’t even describe how awesome it is that we’re friends—we were talking about Super Smash Brothers the other day and hugged when we found out that we each played as Roy in Melee. XD



“Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon. Goodnight light, and the red balloon...”

I’m getting a little sleepy, but I think I’ll be writing again real soon. It feels nice to be back! And next time I’m back in town, Andrew… I want to hear you Yo-Yo-Ma-reading-Good-Night-Moon-impression. XD



Love,

Popo

SO. I want to reach out and pretty much hug all of you for being so supportive of me the other day when I had my pre-orientation mini-meltdown. Even though I didn't reply to anyone's comments, I got a chance to peak at them via hotel computer and they made me feel so, so, so much better. :D Everyone was so kind at VT -- I know the Hokie community is famous for being very supportive and nurturing to it's members but I didn't realize how much until I actually got there and started talking to some of the current students. I actually ended up making a friend that was Facebook-worthy ((LOL!)) and we're planning to meet up again when school starts to explore the campus and find our way around. He managed to get into the school's prestigious architecture program so if I ever need to take advantage of the art buildings, I'll have a foot in the door. XD

I was really, really proud to learn that essentially all of my AP credits were excepted and verified when I went to create my schedule. I took eight AP courses in high school and six of them were accepted so... that pretty much means that I can cut an entire semester of school, which is awesome. ((As expected, I completely failed my Calculus exam, which doesn't mater because I was going to end up re-taking that class anyway. XD )) All that hard work definitely paid off in the end. Yay!

Anyways, Lori suggested that everyone post their schedules when they have them finalized, so here's mine:

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Monday

GER 1105 - Elementary German - 9:05 AM - 9:55 AM
ECON 2005 - Principles of Economics - 12:20 PM - 1:10 PM

^ I get to jump into my major early because of those APs! :D

Tuesday

ACIS 1504 - Intro Bus Info Sys - 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
SOC 1004 - Introductory Sociology - 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM

Wednesday

((See Monday))

Thursday

*MATH 1525 - Calculus with Matrices - 8:00 PM - 8:50 PM

This class is online so I only have to "show up" for it once. I can do the course work any time, anywhere I want, and if I need help, I can go to my assigned professor.

((See Tuesday))

Friday

((See Monday))

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Hah! So that's a pretty nice schedule, I think. I'm not wild about some of the prerequisite courses I have to take ((example: Intro Bus Info Sys)) but it'll work out in the end, when I can pick courses that are a little more interesting. :)

I guess I never mentioned this but my goal is to graduate with a B.S. in Economics. Everyone's giving me a really hard time about this and insist that I should major in art, but... Ugh. Since I know people who intend to major in art, I'll just hold my tongue before I even get started. XD I have some many reasons why I would hate that major...

So, those are the details. I'm pretty tired at the moment because after the long rides to and from VT, I had to hop in the car right after and drive to Maine, which is where I am currently and where I'll be spending the remainder of my break. Time for some much needed sleep! ;D



Love,

Popo

[The first section was written yesterday...]

So I'm doing what I consider to be the ultimate lazy move at the moment: I've devised a set-up in my room so that I can lie down on my bed while still using my laptop while still keeping it plugged into the wall. I've been in the same position for hours now and I'm not by any means wearing down. There's a cool breeze coming through my window and some YouTube videos are loading; life is good. Why didn't I come up with this years ago? XD



Today was the first day of what is going to be a very long week of testing. I sat my AP Government and Politics exam today and for the most part, it went well. The Multiple Choice was easy enough, as expected, but I did have a brief moment of panic when I got to the essay section. They certainly threw us some curveballs this year; out of the four essay prompts I was asked to write, there was only one that I could answer right from the get-go. The others took a bit more thinking than I had anticipated, but I managed, as did everyone else. ((Yay!))

It's sort of funny how when you take these tests, for the four or five hours that follow, the person sitting beside you becomes something of a companion, a comrade you might say. I was pleasantly surprised by how well I got along with the guy beside me; we've been forced to sit next to each other for basically every alphabetical-order school affair since seventh grade but we've never really talked or anything. I was surprised because when he sat down next to me today, he not only greeted me, but knew my name! :D

I think the best part of the day was when the essay part of the test began. We all silently opened our little green booklets, eager to see the prompts, when I saw out of the corner of my eye that my partner had closed his book and was looking towards the ceiling. Then, completely uncalled for, I hear this resounding "Shit!" and I'm cracking up, trying not to laugh as he slams his head down on his desk. XD It was excellent, though by then I had warmed up to his antics and was hoping that he'd pull himself together and at least write something. He did, so that's good.

I have my Calculus exam on Wednesday, which I'm totally not looking forward to. I don't have a snowball's chance in Hell of passing it at the required proficiency but it wouldn't hurt to try, I suppose. I seriously considered throwing the whole exam, but remembered that that's just not my style. I'll tough it out, and if I'm lucky, I'll get a 2 or something. XD

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My sister and I have decided to have an N64 marathon and attempt to play every game in our library. We don't have too many games, twenty-five in total, which probably isn't a lot compared to some folks out there who read this [COUGH! XD] but it's been fun. We got in touch with old favorites like the original Mario Golf, Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing and GoldenEye, while there were some that we completely blew by, like Donkey Kong 64 and 007: The World is Not Enough. ((Bleh. XP )) It's strange that people think the N64 was a failed system; I was always quite fond of it. But I'm biased so don't listen to me. XD



I've been so bored this last week that I've embraced my inner nerd to the max and have taken to watching anime on YouTube. I just finished Trigun, as someone brought it up at FESS and piqued my interest, and I have to agree with their opinion on the series; it's a heck of a lot of fun to watch, but the plot is like.... WHOOSH! Hard to follow the first time around. XD It's a little boring at time as well. I watched the first four episodes and finally had to skip ahead to the ones with Wolfwood in order to keep interested. Funniest character ever, by the way. XD A favorite.

I've also attempted to watch Cowboy Bebop: The Movie over the last few days but my hopeless computer refuses to let me watch it all the way through. Windows Media Player freezes up about every ten minutes so I'm guessing it's an issue with the disk. ((Which my cousin burned for me many, many years ago. XD )) Still, this is the first time I've watched it and really appreciated the movie's quality. The most striking thing about it is how rich and lush and vibrant the animation is. The superb music and dubbing is also a plus, and the most surprising thing of all is how naturally the voice-overs match with the character's mouth. Yay. XD



So, all in all, not much is new with me. Life is a little slow right now but I'd prefer that to being stressed out. XD I hope everyone is well and may I update with more interesting news sometime in the near future. XD


Love,

Popo