We're Back!

Just a note, the title is not intended to be a reference to the 1993 animated film of the same name. Any references to real people, places, or events in this blog are purely coincidental. And without further ado, back to the traditional blog!

1) This past week I actually started my job working at Scientific Animations Without Borders. Mostly it's been meetings and in the planning/pre-production stages, but we're going to get the ball rolling and I'll be able to start animating. My first project will be teaching about biocontrol, which is using some species to control another. The main example used here is a type of caterpillar that eats cowpeas. But another specie of wasp can actually lay its eggs within the caterpillar egg and take over. I'm still researching and learning about it, but that's the gist so far.

2) On Friday night, I went to an ECE student-alumni dinner. It was a really quaint event where I was able to speak with a bunch of alumni who are either in the business or going to grad school. One interesting point brought up when talking was, in regards to what I want to do in the future. My question for myself shouldn't be "grad school or not", but "should I become an entrepreneur or not." Definitely something I've been thinking about.

3) This weekend also marked the start of EOH (Engineering Open House!) I was able to walk around and check out some of the exhibits with friends. Some highlights were a helicopter you can control with your mind and a multitouch screen using infrared cameras. Then at night, they had a tesla coil concert. They played Super Mario theme, ghostbusters, Star Wars, and a bunch of other classic tunes, all through electricity! I spent part of EOH helping out with the iEFX group by talking to and recruiting freshman. Not that many people showed up (because we were put in a back classroom, but it was still a fun time!)

4) Saturday afternoon, a friend from high school came down and I showed him around campus. Exactly two years ago, I had came down and Steve showed me around, so it was weird seeing the cycle continue.

5) Then Saturday night I went to my friend's 90's-karaoke-new-years-classy themed birthday party. He was a friend I met at Leadershape and at the party, it was almost split halfway between Leadershapers and his other friends!

6) This morning, I went to a friend's baptismal. There were four people being baptized and two people having confirmation. I was really moved by each of their testimonies on how they either found God or refound Him.

I'm really sorry for starting late, but as you can kind of tell, I've been having a pretty hectic week! But, on the bright side, only one more week and then I come home!!

Gah! Why are late posts late!?

I am so sorry, I meant to do this. I really did. I got bombarded with homework/classes/meetings, but I realize that's not the best excuse to not update! Anyway, here we go! Big Tree!!

1) On tuesday for lunch, I went to the Asian American house for free food. We also had a discussion about diversity and the effect of Asian Americans on campus. I was invited by a friend and had a great time. I will probably go to more events in the future!

2) Tuesday night I went to Interaction II class and built this. It's a pretty fun program to play around with. Enjoy!! http://openprocessing.org/visuals/?visualID=50211


3) Last night,some friends and I went to this meeting held by SIGGRAPH (a computer graphics group) that centered on animation. It looks really interesting so I'll be helping out with modeling and animation this year. I wish I knew about this club sooner!!

Alright, well, I'll give another post later tonight. Bye now!!

The Day of the Sun

Alright, so my roommate left this morning. I'm currently writing to you sitting in my single room. The room is quiet without him... I mean, I'm playing music and the heater is humming, but besides that it's quiet. Anyway though, things to talk about things to write about so on with... THE BIG THREE!

1) Last night we threw a going-away party in the east lounge for Luai. We surprised him by getting everyone together then had pizza and cake. All good stuff. And afterwards, we saw Shawshank Redemption. Luai's really into movies, but this is one famous/critially-acclaimed ones he hasn't seen yet. I think/hope/know he had a good last night before leaving.

2) Alright, this is kind of going in reverse chronological order. So earlier in the night, I met with my team for ECE 290. I'm in a special section where instead of taking midterms, we do group projects. So I'm looking forward to the semester and hopefully could get a better grade than taking tests!

3) Then Sunday afternoon (again, going back in time), I worked on physics, then finished up some CS homework. It was another work day. Seems like I'll be getting a lot of those this semester.

Anyway, Shugo out. Bye now and good night!!

The Day of Sats

I was laying in bed when suddenly I realized! I didn't do a blog post today! So I rushed to my chambers (walked to my computer), grabbed my nearest quill (logged in), and started jotting down my memoirs (started jotting down my memoirs). So without further ado, TIG BHREE!!

1) Last night, I went out with a bunch of leadershapers! We went over to taco bell for dinner and then went back to one person's apartment. There we watched Wall-E and then played a bunch of card games. It was a lot of fun and great to spend time with my family cluster again.

2) Today was my work day. I spent the morning working on physics, which I completed all my homework except for two problems (I'll go in for office hours tomorrow). Then I worked on ECE 290 homework, and finished all that. And now I'm about halfway through CS 225 homework, but I'll finish that with a friend tomorrow (er... Today).

3) My roommate is actually transferring back to his home state- New York. So tonight, a bunch of friends and I took him out for dinner as a kinda good-bye. I'm going to miss him, and wondering whether I'll get a new roommate or have a single... Hm...

Anyway, now I'm going to actually go to bed and hopefully stay in bed until morning (er... Later in the morning). Good night, dear readers!!

Thursday! (Sorry for the delay)

Okay, sorry for the late post for Thursday, I need to get back on track, back on schedule, and back into the swing of things. So, as per usual, let's jump into the BIG THREE!

1) So it's only the first week of classes and already I have so much work to do. Three homework assignments, two projects (one of which I've completed), and a presentation I have to give in two weeks. Yep, in school we hit the ground hard, then get running.

2) Which is an unintentional segue into my next point. I've gotten back into running the past week. I'm not up to 4-5 miles at a 8.5-9 minute pace being okay. This Sunday I'm going on a longer run (6 miles), so I'll let you know how that goes. My ultimate goal is to break four hours in the marathon!

3) Also on Tuesday and Thursdays, I have my favorite class- Interaction II. It involves some programming, but it's really easy, so the focus is purely on creating stuff! I'll show you some of the stuff I make later on.

Okay, well, today's Saturday, so you know what that means? Work day! Woo! Homework here I come!

The Boy(s) Are(Is) Back in Town!

Hello dear readers! After being away for winter break, now we're back! Let'sa go with el TRES GRANDES!!

1) Last Saturday- the first day I've been back- a group of friends and I went sledding. It was the first time sledding in about a year, so it was definitely a lot of fun. After about two hours though, it got excruciatingly cold, so some of us left early to go to the ARC. At the ARC we went swimming, and warmed up in a sauna. Pretty awesome way to start out coming back to school!

2) Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so in the morning, I went to this church where they had a service/breakfast to his influence and memory. I didn't know anybody there, but still felt a very welcoming environment. One girl gave a speech on King's effect on her life. She gave a really good talk except for the fact that she started saying "Dictionary.com defines 'Taking a stand' as..." which is a rather weak opening. Later on, she told some personal anecdotes, so it might've been a stronger start if she began with one of those. Either way, it was a great experience.

3) Yesterday (Tuesday) was my first day of classes. I only had two classes that day (compared to the five I have today). I had a physics lecture and interaction II. Physics wasn't too bad, but is suppose to get worse. And interaction is pretty fun, and is suppose to get better! Haha, well, we'll see how today's classes go.

Check back with you all this Thursday! Oh, and to one of my special readers out there, good luck on finals!!

Saturday

11:11! Make a wish! (I realize it'll be later once I publish this, and even later when you read it, but still make a wish!) Anyway, let's jump right into it with the... YOU-KNOW-THE-WORDS!!

1) Usually I try to do my Big Three in chronological order, but today I'm going to go in reverse. So I just finished a 4 hour study session with a friend. I'm feeling a lot better for my math final, but still need to review a few more topics. I spent most of this morning/later afternoon studying, so now I'm going to take a break until tomorrow (i.e. MORE study day!!)

2) This afternoon, I took an hour break and went to the Treehouse Society winter crafts event. It was pretty fun, we made snowflakes and pipecleaner snowmen. It was a nice change of pace from studying.

3) Then, or in this case, before that- I woke up at 6 to see a lunar eclipse. It was just at the beginning of the eclipse so the moon looked tinted yellow. It was suppose to turn red at 8, but that was when the sun rose.

Anyway, that was pretty much my day. Tomorrow will be more studying. Stay tuned!!