Friday, September 22, 2006

Last Day of Summer

Well, this is it. As of 12:03 am (tonight/tomorrow), it is officially Fall in the West. I wouldn't say that I'm sad to see Summer go, nor would I say I am glad. With the ebbs and flows of this last Summer, I am afraid to be a part of the Winter. I guess that's what it comes down to. It got hotter here than it has ever been before this Summer. So I fear that the Winter will bring in a similar fate.
At work, we are having an end-of-summer BBQ. I don't really think that 90% of the people I work with even realize that this is, in fact, the last day of Summer. Nor do I believe that any of them knows what that means in term of the length of the day or it's significance in history. And that makes me sort of sad. Sad that they don't know, that they don't care to know. They will just continue on their day as normal, doing whatever it is that these people do.
Now I sound like I feel superior to them. Which I do not, in any way. I am absolutely positive that they all have some sort of knowledge or know-how in their brains that I could not ever truly comprehend. And I'm okay with that. Most of the time.
For now, let's just take a moment to breathe. Breathe in that last Summer breath and bid it farewell for another year. It's time for the seasons to change.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Physics GRE

Yep... driving me crazy. I have 2 months to remember everything I learned in six years. It's possible, I know. But that doesn't make it any easier, really. Harrumph. So I've just been keeping busy with reviewing my old notes, doing practice problems on the most basic of levels, and making as many note cards as humanly possible. At some point I need to sit down and take one of the two practice tests I have in my possession. Only two. So I figure I'll save those for last. Then I can sit down in my 170 minute time allotment and crank out all 100 problems. You heard me right. 100 problems in 170 minutes. Less than 2 minutes per problem. So I really need to know this stuff. Breathe it. Be able to look at the problem and know what the answer is without having to do any extensive math or derivations. My friend Josh has the utmost faith in my abilities since I have the math background. I, on the other hand, have less faith in myself. I'm scared to death. He took the test twice and did not do so well either time. But it is extremely helpful that he has taken it twice. It means that he knows what is or what is not important. So he's given me an outline to make the best use of my time remaining:

Mechanics
Quantum
Electromagnetism
Optics
Thermal
Nuclear
Lagrangian/Hamiltonian Mechanics

The only reason that Quantum is second on the list is because that's the most recent of things I learned that I am relatively comfortable with. So yeah. I have my work cut out for me. But it's for the best. At least I have a plan. I was trying to work problems from some book claiming to be a Physics GRE Prep Book and getting nowhere fast. Josh basically told me to throw the book away. None of the problems they use are in any way related to the test. So that made me feel a wee bit better. A wee.
Tonight my buds are coming over for study time. Granted we will all be studying various subjects as we are all studying various things, but it will be nice to have some people around who are also trying to get work done. 2 months. Seems like a long time and yet it feels like forever. Only because I'm stressing out so much about the test. I need to just chill. Perhaps take a vacation or two. Oh, right! I am taking a vacation or two! Woohoo! Except that both of them will have to have some study time included. Yucky. Who wants to study in Maui? Not me. But I must. And then I'm going to see my sissy after that for a few days of Universal Studios and Disneyland madness. I doubt I'll study there. I'd study on the plane except that it's only like an hour and I can't do much in an hour aside from organize my 15 books of reference. Well, we shall see how it all pans out.
Until next time,
*Raevyn*

Monday, September 11, 2006

UC Berkeley

Can't they just accept me because I am an awesomely terrific and intelligent person? Why must I have to continually prove myself to people in order to give them money? All I want is a friggin' degree, so what if it is a ph.D?
The day the testing ceases is the day I will finally be able to breathe again.

Friday, September 01, 2006

I Miss My Hair

...it's short now. In case you haven't seen it yet, go here.
I got it did last Saturday before my company picnic. I must admit, I was freakishly nervous. Thankfully, I had all three of my favorite local people there with me. My sister being the biggest help of them all, of course. Since she cut her hair drastically many, many years ago, this totally makes sense. I really wasn't sure what I should do (ie, how to style it in the shorter length-layers or bangs or whathaveyou), but Becky had it down in her mind, so I left it to her to describe it to the hairdresser.
Went to a new place in Pleasanton which a friend recommended a couple of weekends ago wakeboarding. Yep, I tried wakeboarding. 'Twas hard. Really, really hard. Much harder than it looks, even. I kept watching person after person get right up and play around on the wakes. But me? Me no get it. Well, I think I got pretty close, but I didn't actually stand up all the way. Logan, Kristen and I went to New Malones (spelling?) Reservoir near Angel's Camp. Dylan met us there, at Vic (Cliff's cousin) and Kristin's house in Angel's Camp where the three of us (not Dylan) stayed the night. We took up Kristen's parent's boat and quite frankly had a blast! There is absolutely nothing wrong with riding around in a boat all day on a lake that is comfortably cool. So I wasn't upset when I couldn't get up on the wakeboard the first day. The second day did not provide any additional luck in my direction, however. I did manage to get up about halfway on 2 occasions. I thought for sure I had it on the next try. But alas, I did not. I actually managed to smoosh and squish my fingers between the edge of the board and the ropetow. Poop. And ouch. My knuckles on my middle fingers have not yet recovered completely. So better luck next time, I guess.
Anyways, back to the hair. It was per Kristin's recommendation that I go to this particular hair place. And rightly so! She did a pretty awesome job!
So I walk in and sit down and she comes over to talk to me (aka Becky) about how I want it cut yaddayadda. And since I was cutting off a lot, she asked if I would like to donate it. Which of course I did. So off went the 1 foot of healthy, naturally blonde locks to a happy cancer patient.
I miss my hair. I keep playing with it, amazed at how soonly my fingers reach the bottom of my hair when I run them through it.
Buuuuut... all in all, it looks pretty good.
A nice change.
For now, anyways.