I Hate Math

I'm back in my "I hate math" phase, especially since our current homework deals with exponients and logarithims. How is one supposed to figure these problems out without resorting to calculators or log tables, both of which most likely will not be allowed on an exam?

Besides being in a mad dash to get my math done this morning, I also have to prepare myself mentally for my first job which starts next monday. I'll talk more about it later, as well as how the first day went.

I'm trying to be an accepting person, but.... radicalx^2/radical15*cubedradical5^3 is just too alien.

Tugs on my Strings

The chemistry exam wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... only took me half an hour, whereas we were given an hour and a half to complete it. Guess I was more prepared than I thought, but this is only chemistry. My calculus exam is two weeks from today, so I better prepare for that. At least I didn't have to memorize the periodic table.

I stopped at a bookstore downtown several times today to relax and study in their coffee cafe. Near the cafe entrance are some shelves labeled "New Age", where they put books on stuff like divination, occultness and even paganism (Which I bet many book organizers still label those books under such because some pagan religions are reconstructionist religions, as in the case of Wicca, or the misconception that all pagan beliefs and practice stem from a belief of "magic", whereas I've seen many pagan religions that study or believe in "magick", which is supposed to be different I think..)

On those shelves I saw several tarot decks. Tarot, as far as I know it, is the process of using special cards to help fortell the future or things to come. The artistry on those cards and their apparent simplicity in function caught onto something in me. It's something that I would try one, perhaps, but the process of divination makes me somewhat sour about it. It's not a religious matter, but the frame of thinking that your future has been predetermined, the concept of fate. This is how your life's going to be, no ifs, ands or buts about it. I want to think there's somethings within my sphere of control that can influence my life instead of following a static script. It might be selfish in me wanting to believe in having some control, but I guess I want to believe in that freedom, considering the current nature of political freedoms...

Chemistry Exam Soon

I'm sitting now in the Iowa City Public Library on one of their internet computers, pondering about the chemistry exam that starts about two hours for now. I'm listening to some product reviews on Cnet, only because there's some baby crying in the computer area. Okay, so I'm uncomfortable with children, especially their crying sounds. There's just some noises which are universally irritating to all human beings with the exception of some very disturbed people... yea, that'll probably leave you thinking of some stuff you wish you hadn't.

I'm becoming steadily more worried, even in the course of one day, finding some time for leisure reading, especially when I'm sitting around downtown with nothing to do. It's more than just a case of finding time to read though; it's also trying to find something engaging enough. My leisure reading times are very intermident, so I might go a day or two without reading a book. I find it hard though to try to stay engaged to something if their a sizable gap, even just one day, between readings. There's more than a couple students I've seen carrying their own books for lesiure reading. Maybe sooner or later I'll burn out on studying for good and can sit down to studying stuff I really want to learn.

Chemistry Exam, Reading, FreeCiv

I just killed a wasp... I know it's not how I expected to start this post, but that damn wasp had stung my mom's foot in the middle of the night, causing me to wake up and help her tend to it and give me bug nightmares the rest of the night. Anyways...

Tonight I have my first college exam, a chemistry exam. Yes, at night. They either don't or can't do them during the day or class so I have to stay on campus for an extra hour and a half or so tonight. It's sort of intimidating, taking a large exam at night. At least I'll have time to study beforehand..

I'm also having trouble trying to get myself to do some leisure reading. There's several books I have on hand and others in mind I want to get, but between studying out of some textbooks and other class readings, particularly my Native American Studies books, it's hard to convince myself to sit down and enjoy a read without knowing or worrying myself that I'm wasting time reading stuff irrevelent to my classes. This stuff I want to read is revelent to myself though, to what I want to learn and discover and to help answer some questions brewing in my mind.

Me and a friend tried out a game of Freeciv, an open-source port of the Civilization game series. It was good, but it'll take some getting used to. I for one lean more towards tatical combat-style strategy games, like Steel Panthers: World at War.

ASL Club

Tonight I went to the university's ASL (American Sign Language) club, held in a neighborhood-style restaurant. Most of the conversations I didn't keep up with, partly because I'm not fluent yet in ASL, partly because I was eating. I did strike up some conversations with a senior sitting next to me who was deaf, I think. Overall I had a good time and am looking forward to doing it again next week.

Other than that, not much else for me to comment on. I should go find some homework to do.

Hurried Post

I'm typing this up in somewhat of a frenzy due to the fact my bus arrives in 10 minutes. I didn't get around to saying what I wanted to last night due to spending time writing a paper for my Native American studies class. Technically, it's called Introduction to American Indian and Native Studies, but its hard for me not to be PC about it.

Yesterday's USA Today featured a "first look" article on the upcoming Memoirs of a Geisha movie. I've only read a little of the book but the movie looks like it'll turn out rather well. There's been some argument though, as far as I've been following it, on having Chinese actors play the main Japanese parts. If you took a look at the forums for the movie on IMDB, you would see what I mean.

Also, I have to find some time during this week to run down to the post office to get a new social security card. Turns out I need to show a SS (not Nazi) card to the student employment office at the university to get the papers I need to actually do a work-study job. I'm already a week behind in when I hoped to start working, but I want to start soon, so that at least I can try to get used to waking up at 5 in the morning.

Tonight's also another SPIRAL meeting, which I will be attending. The group have been very friendly so far and are a no-pressure group. It's nothing like walking into some evangalist's speech that trys to tug at your heartstrings. They know I'm not a pagan, just someone who wants to know more about their religions... someone who wants to know the truth.

Some Help..

I was reading on WitchVox (The Witches' Voice) a couple days ago and I came across this: Firefighters, about a 1,000 of them came to New Orleans, thinking they would be putting their skills to use to help save lives in the wake of Katrina, when they found out all their training and time down there would be put to use handing out fliers and phone numbers for FEMA. Oh, and also the occasional shot of them in the backdrop with Bush for PR value. Nice to see the government relief effort respects these firefighters' status...

On another note, I went to another meeting of SPIRAL, the Society of Pagans Interested in Reviving Ancient Lifestyles. Two meetings I've been to so far and they've been pretty informative. I guess I should make it clear at this point that I'm not actually pagan (I grew up in a Catholic family) but I'm researching into paganism from what I call a "logical and philisophical viewpoint". I also recently picked up a copy of Drawing Down the Moon, supposively one of THE books on the history and evolution of paganism in the U.S. I gotta grab a bite before I head out. More to come.

College life, Growing Interests, Pagan Student Group

I'm starting to get concerned with my infrequent posting here... I'll still continue, but why I haven't posted I can attribute to a couple things.... work, laziness.... mostly laziness.

Two weeks of college have passed so far and I'm not screaming my mind out while making a mad dash for the hills, so I guess I have more will power to get through this than I thought. When my calculus class actually starts doing some calculus though, that's when I fear if I'll have enough strength to survive.

I've discovered a couple things recently, some which aren't directly connected to Iowa City or the University of Iowa. I just discovered a large festival, the Beltane Fire Festival held in Edinburgh, Scotland every year on the night of the 30th of April. It looks massive, incredible and I'm now disappointed we don't have anything like it here in the states, much less Iowa. This also means that I will probably be changing my profile picture again soon... I like it to reflect my current interests.

I also went to the first meeting of the semester of the pagan student group on campus. They seem just like everyone else to me and I followed along rather well with the discussions we held, even though I myself am not a pagan. I'm hoping to go to some more meetings soon, which would work nice because the pre-medical student group gets together the same night as the pagan student meetings and one's right after the other, so in one night I get to be a part of some interesting discussions.