Refraction

c,��Y”?�X?a*???��, to Bobby.

Now, off to cram for organic chem and matrix algebra! :biggrin:

My analytical chem lab frustrates me.

We get marks for accuracy and precision, and despite my best efforts, I have FAILED this criterion in more than half of my labs. Each time with a 9/20. It’s some kind of curse, I swear. I’m always accurate–always–but my precision could use a little work. It’s getting to the point where it’s a bit ridiculous, really. In this last lab, I had a 99.42% correlation between my data and the best fit line. That was worth a big, fat zero. (My K_a value earned me a 9.)

My accuracy and precision grades are worth 12% of my lab mark, which is ultimately 3% of my overall mark in the course, but keep in mind: I have to pass the lab to pass the course. =_=

I mean, in one lab my prof couldn’t even TELL me what went wrong. v_v And the other one didn’t count, and I overshot my first titration, so I really didn’t care. ARRGH. I have two labs left to make this up, and … yeah.

I’m NOT a bad chemist otherwise in that lab; it’s not like the rest of my accuracy/precision grades are marginal pass marks. The other ones (if I remember correctly) are something like 16, 19, and 17.5. I mean… if my marks were consistently low there would be a problem, but since they’re not, I just really can’t understand what’s going on.

Well, scratch analytical chemistry off my specializations list. :tongue:

Happy belated to Michael. 😀

I had intended this post to have some actual content, but I think I’ll work on Chem labs instead and fret a little bit more over my looming midterms instead of actually studying for them. It’s going to be a long night.

Le français me fait rire. :cheerful: Même s’il est difficile de temps en temps, il m’intéresse suffisamment pour que je ne sois jamais frustrée.

Mon prof est un peu bizarre… “les grammeriens veulent être chics alors ils disent ‘substantif’ au lieu de ‘nom'” … “Ca donne un peu plus de punch, hein!” … “ah, ouais, c’est pas aussi blah-blah-blah que ça” … “ce livre est idiot” … “alors c’est pas un big deal”

En plus, il y a tellement de sites super-chics! XD Celui-ci est superbe ! Le français de Texas est assez intéressant. XD Ecoutez Joe-Bob !

I think I just failed my Bio midterm 🙁 I didn’t finish my essay (BLAH!) and I forgot to answer a question. Oh, and I got different answers from my friend. 🙁 Bio isn’t supposed to be hard like this >_> !

Et maintenant je me mets à …. le matrix algebra :P!

//edit: J’ai menti. 😛

Oh, by the way, science now has evidence that East Asians are cheap drunks! 😛

Acetaldehyde may be the main culprit behind hangovers, according to new research from Japan.

Alcohol consumption is an integral part of many cultures, but many East Asians suffer the mother of all hangovers every time they drink because they have a mutant of the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2). The mutant cannot metabolise acetaldhyde and so this toxic compound hangs around cause the worst morning after the night before for many East Asians almost every time.

//edit 2: My French prof lives a block away from me. >_O I almost forgot that she earned a passing mention in one of my entries. Okay, so really, it’s not enough that I used to have Socials and Art teachers living within a few blocks? Now I get a French prof too?

I haven’t been seeing her this term, though. 😛 Except in class, of course.

I have a very bad panic problem. Most of the time, this is due to insecurity and an overactive imagination on my part, but it strikes me that whereas other people kind of resign themselves in the face of a week of midterms and labs, I just get increasingly agitated. In a way, I wonder if it isn’t the same tactic people use when fishing for compliments–except that it’s not compliments I want, just reassurance.

I don’t think anyone is really interested in the details of all my midterms, so here’s a sampling of the more interesting tidbits from each one:

Analytical Chemistry: The prof had SIX VERSIONS of the midterm. (Technically only three; he just rearranged questions on some of them.) The best part? The average on the all three versions individually was 65%. Gee, now that’s what I call a fair test.

Matrix Algebra: Question 5: (0 marks) What really happened in Roswell New Mexico in 1947?

Organic Chemistry: I wrote this one twenty-hour hours ago. I already have it back. In fact, I’ve had it back for a couple of hours now. Tell me, when was the last time YOU had a midterm marked this quickly?

And some fun stuff from the labs:

Analytical chem: I feel so sorry for our TA. He’s always the last one to leave. We must all be very bad chemists. XD We pepper him with questions incessantly. Sometimes I think he’s sick of us. XD

Organic chem: I had “beautiful” crystals of salicylic acid *_* And they were very pretty indeed. I got about 90% yield for that lab, so it makes me happy :cheerful:

Coordination chem: OMG WHAT’S THIS A FEMALE CHEM TA? Actually, they’re not that rare, I’ve just never had one. She’s very nice and encouraging. The other TA seems a bit snarkier, so I’m glad I have this one. Apparently I make pretty crystals of cobalt coordination complexes too *_*

The courseload is seriously getting to me. Six courses, three labs, two of which are every week…. I get to school at 8 every single day, regardless of whether I have a class or not. I can’t afford to let myself sleep in on Tuesdays and Thursdays–it’d become a bad habit. I am living from midterm to midterm, basically. Cram one, write it, move on and cram for the next. Arrrgh.

If it weren’t for Bio and French, I’d be totally insane right now. >_<

Has anyone besides me noticed that Sailormoon stole Wonder Woman’s boots? Really! They’re exactly the same! Red knee-high boots with a slight heel and white trim. Except, of course, Sailormoon wears moons on hers. Sailormercury actually has the same ones too, except they’re blue.

In other random news, I am now the proud owner of a pair of pink bunny slippers. But not just ANY pink bunny slippers! Pink It’s Happy Bunny slippers. They are awesome and perfect for sinking into after a long day at work. And they keep my feet warm. Yay 😀

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m working 16 hours this weekend and I could really use the time to study for my organic chem midterm on Wednesday. If anybody has any hints they will be much appreciated. Come to think of it, I also have two labs to write up by the end of the week. Yay.

Okay, right, I do believe that it is finally time (a month after I proposed it) for some customer stories!

On my most recent shift:
It’s Monday evening, and there are only two employees in the store: me and the assistant manager. She’s put me on cash because she does things more quickly than I do and is off doing something in the back. A family of three comes in–mother, father, and little girl of about 4 or 5. The mother marches up to the counter holding a pair of worn sandals and says, “Ah, I bought these shoes a while ago, and now I realize they’re breaking… do you have any more of this style in stock? … Here, I have the receipt.” I grimace inwardly. This is not going to be fun. I check for her and sure enough, we do not have any more in stock. “So what now?” she says. At this point, I’m thinking, “Great, I’m screwed. Our return policy has never been fully explained to me and now THIS?!” I run to the back to check with my manager, who says that even though she bought the shoes two months ago, since she has the receipt, she can exchange them.

Okay. Fine. I let the customer know this and point to our kids section. She asks me to measure her daughter’s feet. So I grab my measury thing and head down the aisle. I bend down and touch her daughter’s foot–I need her to take off the shoe to measure properly. The kid SCREAMS. Loudly. After a moment, the mother says, “Oh, do you need her to take off her shoes?” I mumble something.

So meanwhile, they’re busy browsing and I am busy running around checking that the other customers are finding what they need. Eventually the family comes up to the till with about five pairs of shoes. “Arrghhhhfizzbucket,” I think. I return the old pair, and start ringing up the rest. I come to a pair of shoes that say $5 on the box but which the computer says are $9. I don’t know which price is right, and besides which, I don’t know how to adjust the price anyway. I ask my manager. She sorts things out. So after all that… the lady gives me a blasted “15% discount card.” I don’t know where people get these things. Anyway, I now have to go back and correct all of the items, because our register is stupid and only lets you use a coupon on the most recent item. So I do that. It takes forever but it’s done. She asks if she can use another coupon she has; random customers get a phone number to call and a survey to complete about the service in our stores. The manager (who has by now figured out that I’m practically at my wits’ end at the register) says no, but she can use it on her next one. We ring it up, she signs a few forms, I’m happy it’s over, and they turn to go.

Then her husband spots our shelf of shoe cleaning products and grabs two; he plonks them on the counter and signals that I should ring them up. I do so quickly; at least, I try to. Unfortunately the lady has now decided that she wants to use her $4 coupon in addition to her 15% discount card; this confuses me beyond all belief and I have to get the manager to help me again. Her grand total for the second transaction was something like $2.87. And she put it on her American Express card. Why, people, WHY?! I mean… surely you have a five dollar bill? Or some change? Seriously! Anyway, it goes through and my jaw is slack with disbelief. I can’t believe I just spent fifteen minutes ringing something up.

Oh, and the worst part? With her second purchase, she got another “customer service survey” coupon. She’ll probably phone in a bad score for us, meaning that our managers will be breathing even further down our necks to get our ratings up. ARRGH.

That was a long story that didn’t really amount to much. :tongue:

(As an aside: Surely there is some limit when it comes to returning things? I mean… I had another customer walk in, ask me, “You work here? Yeah? Okay, well, I bought these shoes here, and now they have holes in them.” I look at the shoes (they’re on his feet!) They’re black runners of some kind and they are pretty beat up. I’ve worn the same runners for a year and mine aren’t that beat up. I show him to his size and try to help him find a similar style. “How long ago did you buy the shoes, sir?” “About three months.” “Um, well, then we may not have them… perhaps you should speak with my manager instead.” “The manager? Why not you?” “I uh… uh… can’t do returns. He can help you out, though.” Look at me weasel out of things!

But seriously. I wanted to say to him, “DUDE. Let’s think for a moment. You wore these shoes for three months. You cannot expect a cheap pair of shoes (he said they were around $35) to last for a long time if you’re beating them up that badly! And if we took back every shoe like yours we’d never make any money!” Arrrrrgh. Is my thinking wrong? Has it suddenly become acceptable to bring back USED items? Geez, really, what’s next, bringing food back to the grocery store that’s gone rotten?)

I love Google’s new blog search–through it, I finally found those Chinese covers of “Flying People” I was talking about earlier *_* Sung by Joey Yung in BOTH Cantonese and Mandarin. (What I mistook for a description of the song was actually the title: 越唱越強 means something like, “The more I sing, the stronger I am.” This makes me very happy. Very happy indeed. I will be enlisting much help to translate these songs, for sure.

Oh, and look, I was right, it was “改變” at the end. :tongue:

*feels like a good CORE OF SOUL fan again*

Cantonese:
笑我殺蚊也不夠膽
笑我的天性不夠奸
樂觀的心不冷我全憑傻勁
行過重重難關 憑信心得到稱讚

我要放心放膽去衝
我要上廣闊的太空
括出幾分英勇要忘懷沈重
前進才能成功 長空中可給操縱

*我 信天真的鬥志
(我 以最天真的鬥志)
雖挫敗仍然嘗試
蝕底過當做投資
滿腦太多好主意 從此懷著大志
(信我會有天可以 憑聲音去完成大志)

#要(我)越唱越強 艱辛波折別(未)去想
再放聲高唱 唱到底仍鏗鏘
我越唱越勇找到方向
即使一個亦夠響 我已索性不理
你會否熱情來欣賞

我決心不理型像 發洩我想
我繼續狂唱 唱到自信更高漲

我要隻身去膽搏膽
跌痛也一個人承擔
遇到些少感嘆我仍憑傻勁
來抗衡來平反 如孤單都懂得撐

Repeat*

要越唱越強 艱辛波折別去想
我會再放聲高唱 唱到聲嘶仍然鏗鏘
我越唱越勇找到方向 即使一個亦夠響
我已索性不理 你會否熱情來欣賞

@我 決心 一個前行 我信我想
懶理別人自信堅強更高漲
憑我態度全力再上 到世界絕嶺演唱

Repeat#() @

唱到自信更高漲
放肆放任的去唱
來年定了方向
唱到[支力]了也想唱
唱到倦了也想唱
我會竭力的去唱
全憑自信去高唱

Mandarin:
修十個指甲要幾天 圍著外太空繞幾圈
興奮的臉馬上 就像紅杜鵑 我紮著馬尾辮 沿公路走在左邊

誰讓我生在八零年 誰讓我天生有兩臉
一群人的聚會玩到第二天 我還在扮鬼臉 我始終興趣不減

對自己太有信心 女孩子飛簷走壁 我讓人傷透腦筋
藏不住的好奇心 一直無法平息

*再大膽一點 不管是酸還是甜
世界我作主 不為別人表演
我喜歡想法天天新鮮 不喜歡一成不變
外面狂風暴雨 打開傘就變成晴天
敢不敢趁著夜色溜進公園 盪著那秋遷 再一次回到童年
(讓步伐趁著夜色溜進公園 像小時候拿著傘擋著雨天
要知道夢想和現實 離得開不是太遠)

別害怕生活太空虛 別抱怨過去不如意
就算人來人往都沒有關係 那微笑的合應 就是最好的回憶

我對自己太有信心 女孩子爬上雲梯 我讓人傷透腦筋
藏不住的好奇心 像支火柴點燃酒精

Repeat*()x2

敢不敢和我冒險 甩開束縛的昨天 世界說變就變
讓蝴蝶遇上春天 當叛逆黎到到極點 缺點變成了優點 一切因我而改變

I had intended for this to end on Labour Day 🙁 Instead, I’m about a week late. And I still have no stories to share!

VI – You’re just not funny. Please don’t try.

VII – The hands-down, worst-customer-ever story. Post the worst of the worst.