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[Dec. 31st, 2020|11:59 pm] |
These posts are fairly thorough and can be rather personal. However, I will not mention much about the extremely personal stuff - that's better left to person-to-person talking. I'll try not to drown out the actual events with personal problems, however. Entries will be backdated as I sometimes like to take vacations from the computer. Also, names will be changed or otherwise represented unless I personally know the person or the person is someone in charge. I do this for my own sanity and knowing lots of names is impossible.
No posts will be protected except if I need to talk to someone directly. These posts will be LONG, but I tried to space them so they aren't really big walls of text. Also, each entry (so far) is in order properly, so just scroll down past this post to reach The Ori - Day 1 and follow from there. Expect some reading and I may write summaries if I can. |
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| The Ori - Day 1 |
[Jun. 16th, 2006|06:27 pm] |
So the first day of Orientation went by. I got up around 5 AM, getting only 3 hours of sleep the previous... morning. I had already packed my stuff, so I felt decently ready. I didn't sleep on the car ride to Austin, surprisingly. I thought about it but sleep seemed to elude me. I was also tempted to play my iPod but I held off, since I had no charger. I did listen to the radio stations near Austin... I don't really know what to think of them. I arrived at the garage around 8:30 and parted with my mom at the stairs. I followed the people pointing to the door and saw a huge line of girls waiting to check in. I thought there would be a long line of guys on the other side, but that wasn't so: I went ahead of everyone and checked in. The guy I was standing next to became my roommate - "C". Our room was on the 9th floor... so no real stairs possibility. C seems a lot different than me. He seems like a really big partyer and really social. Told me he was from San Antonio and he was studying Business. We basically set our stuff down in the room and went off on our own.
I took a quick campus tour around 9:30. Wearing jeans and double shirting was a poor choice as I got quite hot quite quickly. I don't think I really learned much since the tour was somewhat limited, but walking around helped some. I got back to Jester around 10 and killed a little time before lunch. I went downstairs and got myself a somewhat meager lunch and mingled a little. At 12, I went to the first Wing Meeting with about 17 other people. Our OA Daniel is weird. I got the impression that he didn't really belong there... that, or the rest of the wing were too difficult. I did all of one thing: a poster, with our name, major, city, and quote. My quote? "If you don't have a quote, make one up." *shrug*
We went as a group to the first presentation - UT Guide. Or at least that was the plan. I, C, and two other people from the wing lost our OA and just went on our own to the auditorium. We found Daniel at the door, unusually. He had beaten us down even though we took the elevator first? We had to sit on the balcony, in the middle of a wing of girls (or two, I didn't really count). I talked to one of the other people in our wing and found out he was from Austin High School around here. I found it nice to learn a little about it. The presentation seemed to drag a bit, unless that was just my 3 hours of sleep catching up to me. I did see that it spoofed TV shows with UT themes and characters so it did have some interesting things in it. After the presentation, we had a college tour. I went in a giant group of Engineers around the engineering part of the campus. I wasn't really too impressed by the tour but I got a better look at the landmarks around the buildings.
The tour ended and I had to find my way back to Jester. On my way back, I ran into Claire, a friend from high school who attends during the summer program. We walked a bit together and I saw her dorm room. I must admit, I was a little impressed by the size of her dorm in comparison to my temporary one. I did make the observation that she seemed a lot more mature now. This was probably out of consequence, but I was still rather amazed at how she changed a bit.
After talking to Claire for a little while, I went back to my own room and ran into another high school acquaintance, Elaine. We only had Government together, but I suppose we still remembered each other. We walked together to get our IDs made. The walk was a little long and hot. We got to the FAC and got our IDs done. After getting our picture, we met up with some of her friends - two people from high school who I'd never met and S from Katy. We walked together as a group after getting all of our IDs and paid for them nearby. We then went back to Jester and I parted with them. Around 4:50, I went back downstairs to go to the Bar-be-que sponsored by... some... organization. I basically just followed the crowd to my destination. I stood in a relatively long line in front of another person I would meet: a girl named A, from somewhere I had never heard of. We met each other, talked, and sat together at a table with some family there. I had some chicken, potatoes, and beans. This seemed a little average and I didn't eat a whole lot. A and I then left to go to the next event, which was a Game Night at the Student Union Building. We talked a lot about different stuff and I learned a lot. She seemed like a very nice girl.
At Game Night, we played Taboo, which is sort of an improv game where one has to describe something without using certain words. We played guys vs girls, though not strictly so. We had some people switching in and out of the game. Some of my own topics and answers included 'George Lucas,' 'Stop,' and 'Silicon Valley.' The table's OA was cool, too - another plus. A "Price is Right" type game followed and I watched it. It seemed amusing at times. Afterwards, I left with A back to the dorm.
The second wing meeting took place at 8:05. We met, took some attendance, and left as a PROPER group this time to the next presentation, 'Crash.' This was quite an effective show, I must admit. There were some footage clips and monologues, each about different types of people. I also saw some college lighting work in the theater and saw that that auditorium has the same problem as my high school's: bad fuse on a bank of house lights. After the show, we went back to a classroom with our "Sister wing" to discuss what we had seen. I didn't pay too much attention. A little while later, we had a whole 1/4 of a pizza each. I got a couple drinks, went up to the room, plugged in the fridge, and finished Act I of the play I brought, Coriolanus.
While readying for bed, I realized I had made a mistake: I had no toothpaste or chapstick. Argh. I had to borrow some of C's toothpaste when he came in and I knew I needed to make plans to get my own. I set my alarm to 7:15 and tried to sleep. I think I did somewhere between 1:30 and 2.
Oh, and the wall shakes when the bathroom's hand dryer is used. How annoying. |
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| The Ori - Day 2 |
[Jun. 15th, 2006|08:20 pm] |
I woke up at 7, despite having my alarm set to 7:15. I had a quick but funny moment where I made no effort to turn it off. And, of course, at 7:15 the alarm went off and it startled C awake. Found that humorous, despite how mean it was. Now, since I was awake, I decided I had to take a shower. C takes his showers at night, and I normally take mine in the morning, so it works out decently. We don't bug each other's sleep. The showers in Jester are community, which means I shared it with the rest of the wing. Fortunately, I got into the bathroom first and set about taking a shower. Today, I took a freezing shower, which REALLY woke me up. It's different because at home I take really hot ones and I wanted a change. On Day 1, I got really bad blisters on the back of my feet so I had to really take care of them so they wouldn't get any worse in the shower. I got back to the room and got ready to take on the day. Or something.
Prior to the start of orientation, I registered for two placement tests in SAT II Math 1c and Writing. My Writing test started around 8. At about 7:50, I went down to the breakfast hall for some juice. I bought some V8 Splash, since I usually like that stuff. I saw A downstairs and talked to her a little bit, but I had to go because I was running late. I got in a reasonable line and got into the testing room. The Writing test was actually very easy - no essay and all grammar. I finished with approximately 8 minutes to spare. The number of test takers was around 80, which wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, the juice I had left the NASTIEST metal taste in my mouth and I regretted buying it. After the test was over, I had to leave the building, go back around, and get in another line to enter for the Math test. As I waited, I saw a lot of other people in line, not realizing that the lines were by alphabet and they were all near the P-Z line. The number of people in my Math test room was around 130, a bit bigger. I ran out of time taking this one, leaving my last two questions blank. I guessed on a couple as well. Still, I felt confident about it.
With testing done, I went to lunch for a little while and met two girls from Friendswood and Dallas (I didn't remember their names though). We talked a little bit about various things about our school and whatnot. Wing Meeting 3 followed soon after. Daniel basically took role and let us go for a whole 45 minutes before we had to go back. I spent that time in my room. Around 1:30, I went with my wing (PROPERLY again) to the college meeting in a courtyard. Everyone was herded into their college group and I once again joined the billions of engineers. I saw A again, in the Business group. I didn't go up to her though.
I talked to my friend James, who I've known for a while. We walked to the Engineering buildings again, this time stopping a couple of trucks on the way there. I learned James was taking two sets of Honors courses and I thought that would be academic suicide. He agreed. We went into the main building, into one of the lecture halls for a presentation on the college of engineering. I learned a lot about my requirements and made some ideas on what to take. I also got a spiral notebook, telling me everything I always and never wanted to know about the College of Engineering.
After the meetings, I went back to the room, finishing a water bottle on the way. I ran into A and one of her friends on the way to getting something to eat. I asked to join them for a little while and they accepted. A seemed to be a little... distant. She didn't talk much. I wasn't sure why. After we finished in the lunch area, I asked her for her email to stay in touch and she didn't want to give it to me. This really made me wonder what it was that was wrong. I mean, all I really wanted was just to get to know her and network a little. To have a friend for college and all. Someone I didn't know previously. I most likely made her uncomfortable. I guess I don't quite understand why that happens... maybe I push too hard? Talk too much? I mean, sure, she wasn't bad looking, but I don't seriously think that's what I was there for. Nonetheless, this kind of hurt me a little. Perhaps I brought it upon myself for being with her too much, which is quite likely.
After parting with A, I went back up to my room where I found James. He invited me to go bowling with some friends tonight and I said I'd think about it, since the programs at night were optional. I walked around, looking for something to do after a little while. I did do something important: get my financial aid turned in and so my tuition, whatever it comes to be, will be reduced. I also called home for the first time and just updated on things. As I got back, I remembered Larrisha, an old middle school friend, wanted to meet me in Austin so I gave her a call and arranged something to do. I had to kill some additional time, so I corrected my toothpaste/chapstick deficiency. At 6, I met Larrisha and we walked along The Drag. I picked up some flip flops and we just shopped around. Or, well, she just shopped around and I watched. We shared a plate at a Thai restaurant and it tasted familiar, despite not having Thai food before.
We had Wing Meeting 3 at 7:00 to meet up for the next program, Campus Issues. I didn't really know what to expect, but I knew what it would cover. On the plus side, we took the elevators as a PROPER group with no wait for once! We took our seats and I got to thinking as the program played through. The people around me weren't exactly supportive sometimes, but I think I understood what the committee performing it was getting at. As the play continued, I began to feel REALLY bad for bothering A earlier. Despite this, I decided it'd be best to avoid her completely so as to not make the situation worse. I suppose I just did too much... like usual. I also noted how supportive friends could be and I wondered if I could be that sort of friend. My exact thought was "I want to be equipped to help people that need it." I suppose one of my bigger goals is to just be the person always there for help. It wasn't until after the performance that I really got to thinking.
(My lack of specifics may be bothersome here.) I thought about how I could fit in around the people I know. It just felt like everyone else is growing up and maturing so quickly... and at times, I just feel like I'm a bit more inferior to them. Like they won't even need my help. I'm really afraid that the people I know will want to just move away from their friendship with me and find someone else who could better their needs. But when I really want to make my support clear, I often have to do it too directly and that would make people think twice about being my friend. I worry a lot about the friends I know and whether I'm bothering them too. Some people more than others, as well, like the friends I want to keep for a while. And given what happened with people I didn't even know... the reactions would be much worse. I'm especially concerned with one or two people in particular, and I hope that my concerns are unfounded and our friendship will continue...
We had a discussion about the program but I wasn't thinking straight still. I still felt like I was trapped in a very plain place with so many people. I didn't think into the future, however... I TRULY hope I'm wrong about things at this point.
After the program, I felt a little better when I called James about bowling. I went to the Union Building to meet up with the group. The five of us waited for a lane to open and when it did, we really played it up. The first game, I bowled 5 straight gutterballs and still came up with a score of 84: 2nd place. The winner was "Superstar", or "Moore" as his name was on the screen. The second game, I bowled a strike to start the game off and still came up with a score of 104, first place this time. I had a hell of a time bowling, as anything would get us going - gutterballs, strikes, spares, splits, speed records (the computer records ball speeds... I was just shy of 24 mph with one bowl). Lots of yelling and cheering and I think the people around us thought we were drunk. The name "Sparemaster" was coined, too. We REALLY played it up there. I also saw C in the other lane and looked at his score... I was doing better than him....
I'll end today with the same line I recorded in my Lifeline - "I'm still not sure if I like it here." |
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| The Ori - Day 3 |
[Jun. 14th, 2006|09:31 pm] |
I woke up at 5 AM to a bad sign - I had left my iPod in my ears while listening to music before bed. When I took them out, I heard something fall onto the ground... I didn't know what it was, but I later checked out the bed and the desk and saw there was no room for anything to squeeze down the crack between it and the wall. I went back to sleep and woke up properly around 7 AM, as usual. Also as usual, I took a freezing shower again. I went downstairs and ran into Elaine again. We went and had breakfast... mine consisted of some apple juice. She was planning her schedule at the table. While we were there, James and one of his friends stopped by and were wondering about their Plan II stuff. I'm not in Plan II (The Liberal Arts Honors program, I think) so I was just downstairs for no real reason. After they left, I went back up to my room and took a nap. C had already left to whatever he was going to do.
My nap lasted from 9-12. I woke up at 12 and decided to get my UT email address. I went downstairs, realized I forgot my ID, and went back up, effectively wasting some time. I had an advising session around 2:40 and I wanted to get there early, so I didn't want to waste time. I went to the FAC building (essentially one of the tech centers) and sat at a computer. Unfortunately, UT's site is rather difficult to navigate through and I had a bit of trouble setting up my email address. Eventually, I did and even checked my normal email. Sitting at the computer next to me was "R", one of the guys I had went bowling with. We talked a bit about stuff at our hometowns and met his friend. Eventually, they decided to go to lunch and I followed them to Moe's, a mexican grill. I didn't get anything since I had spent my last $8 bowling but they got quesadillas. We also talked about the World Cup there, since that was all that was on the TVs inside. Afterwards, we walked a little further and swapped numbers before parting.
The time around then was about 2, so I walked around the southern part of campus before going back to the FAC to my advising session. I talked to a girl from Cy-Fair (which is in the northern part of Houston) while waiting... amazingly, she's also an Engineering major. We didn't talk much, as she got called to advising. Not too much longer after, I got called and met my Orientation Advisor, Greg. He gave me ideas about my fall schedule... at this point, I knew I needed 6 hours of EE courses, 4 hours of Calculus, and a Fine Arts/Humanities course. I went back to my room after he had finished and started researching some courses and times using my big book of fall classes. I called up Claire to talk to her, but I suppose she was busy then. I also called home to ask about what else I needed to do. At some point, I just grew too disillusioned by the place and took a nap to try to get back into things - a reboot, if you will. I went downstairs upon waking up to get some food for the first time all day and to claim my test scores from Day 2. I sat by some upper classmen at "lunch". One girl apparently has a toddler in day care and couldn't have been older than 20 or 21. I didn't say much though since I had nothing to say. My test scores were almost meaningless to me. I got a 680 on the SAT Writing and a 700 on SAT Math.
Prior to leaving for food, C gave me a wonderful tip - go online and research course availability before really planning. I thought I should do just that, so I went back to the FAC and read up on that, making some marks in my fall course book about it. Some times got eliminated, but I didn't really have much concrete yet. After checking through some of my classes, I went back to the room and put that research to use. At this point, I was figuring out how to do things with my courses. It was essentially a puzzle and I even made some maps in my Lifeline to aid with it. Around 6:30, we had Wing Meeting 4. As usual, nothing really got done... again. Afterwards, I decided maybe I ought to see what the comedy show was all about. I wasn't too terribly impressed with the show at some parts, but some other parts were pretty funny. The show was a sketch comedy and it mirrored both pop culture and UT life. The Celebrity Jeopardy version wasn't funny at all... it was already incredibly overdone and Chuck Norris jokes NEVER amused me. Daniel's "OA Secrets" bit was pretty funny and surprisingly accurate - he always DOES take the long way to the auditorium but not to hear us complain about the heat... instead, we complain about the hills! After the show, I did some more schedule planning and waited for the Midnight Prowl, around 10:45.
The Prowl was quite different. It seemed like all the Fine Arts people were doing what they do best: dancing, singing, acting, what have you. There were a lot of people in the group with me. The whole thing was entertaining, too, including the Thriller bit with the zombies. After the prowl was over, I went back to the room and really sat down to work my schedule. I had two options for a math class: M408C (Differential and Integral Calculus) and M408D (Sequences, Series, Multivariable Calculus). I may or may not have tested out of M408C threw my AP test. I would also need a 2-hour General Engineering class to help with M408D. This is basically a support class that covers M408C stuff. I made two schedules, with each math class. I was at either 13 hours (M408C) or 15 hours (M408D) with my scheduling. I also researched some Humanities classes and came up with some reserve choices. I needed to check their availability tomorrow before my Academic Advising meeting at 9:20.
The sores on my feet and legs from Day 1 were healing slowly, but my socks always had some blood on them where the sores are. I also have a spot near my right eyebrow that just wouldn't stop bleeding after I washed my face. C was probably out partying since he hasn't been out this long in the past two days. However, I DID finally finish both schedules around 1:40 AM. I was ready for my AA (Academic Advisor) to talk to me. Speaking of the letter A, I didn't see A today. This was probably a good thing, since I still don't feel good about things between me and her. However, my feelings about a couple friends (well, one in particular) didn't resurface and I didn't feel any type of ambiguity. Maybe I did a little maturing myself, like how I see people mature.
I don't know if anyone would really know about the problems I talk about. I find it rather difficult to talk about problems directly so it often creates some misunderstandings. I am bothered how my mood changes sometimes during orientation, though. I wish I knew why or was more honest with myself.
Now, all throughout the day, I had "M" by The Cure stuck in my head. Yes, the song title is M and not a clever edit by me. Here's the part I was especially thinking about:
"Help yourself
But tell me the words
Before you fade away.
You'll reveal all the secrets
To remember the end
And escape some day..."
And yet, as I remembered these lyrics, I couldn't help thinking about someone in particular.
As I end Day 3, I spent about half of my day with scheduling. However, I feel like I really accomplished something in finishing it. And as of 2:30 AM, C hasn't come back yet. I wonder where he went. Sort of. |
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| The Ori - Day 4 |
[Jun. 13th, 2006|03:13 am] |
Well, as it turned out, C got in at exactly 2:36. He woke me up a little, too, but I still had my iPod in so I wasn't entirely asleep. I remembered to take it out before I went to bed the night before so I didn't have a repeat of the previous day. I got up again at 7 and took a shower, as usual. But deviating from the norm, I took a slightly warmer shower. I went back to the room, got ready for the day, and set out to walk around. I made my first destination the FAC, to check up on the availability of my Humanities choices. As it turned out, I had no real choices in Philosophy, but I did have an Art History course and a Mythology course ready for my 13-hour path, which is what I was considering. I also got two Philosophy course numbers in mind for my 15-hour path. This took an hour to fit together and I left to go to my Academic Advisor around 8:15. It took me another 20 minutes to figure out how to get into the building but I got in before it started to rain. My stomache was hurting all the way over there and I was afraid of the 'pressure' I had with it. It turns out, I was a good 30 minutes early for my advising session, so I waited. I didn't feel up to talking to anyone until then. My AA called for me and we talked about the course schedule again. I found out I tested out of RHE306, an English course, and she seemed a little amazed that I got my schedule pieced together so early.
After the advising (which really didn't tell me anything new), I went back to the room and sat on my bed for an hour or two. My registration period was from 11-12 and I had to check out afterwards. After my waiting, I went downstairs and back to the FAC to register. The line was reasonable, but not exactly short. I also fixed this one girl's SIM card in her phone. When I got in the door, I waited for a computer and got one in a couple of minutes. I took out my Lifeline and registered for my courses. As such, here is my starting schedule:
Mathematics 408C. Differential and Integral Calculus
Electrical and Computer Engineering
306. Intro to Computing
Electrical and Computer Engineering
302. Intro to Elec & Comp Engineering
Classical Civilizations 303. Intro. to Classical Mythology
Total of 13 hours of class. I have three classes each day except Wednesday where I only have two classes. I also have about an hour at LEAST between each class and at most, a couple of hours.
I went back to the room for one of the last times and packed my stuff. I called Claire and asked to go to lunch with her. We met each other there and I met her roommate, who seems pretty cool. I left not too long after though as I had to check out and go home. My pickup time was close to 1 PM and it would take another 3 hours to go back. Such ends my orientation updates...
All in all, I'm glad I got to meet some new people there as well as visit with some old or current friends. I plan on keeping in touch with some of the people I met, though I obviously won't see all of them. I might not be too active in college like I was in high school, however. But after all, it's the grades the matter this time; names don't really matter anymore. I just hope the name people remember me by will still be there and that the unions of friendship I made will keep. I completely count on people like Claire or James or Larrisha to be there and that I can help them out just as much, if not more. Thanks, guys.
And to my readers I may not entirely know - thanks for reading these updates. I suppose it's not something anyone would really guess about me, but I can say that everything here was copied almost directly from my Lifeline I kept during my stay. The entries were editted a little to make it presentable, but I made few content edits. I hope this provided at least a little insight and maybe I'll continue playing reporter in the future. |
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| if... in college |
[Jun. 8th, 2006|05:29 pm] |
Well... at the time of this entry, not quite yet. However, this is a bit of a litmus test in blogging about college stuff. I thought it would be a good idea at the time, since Claire has one too.
I'll update this next week, when I have something to update about. |
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