Refraction

Eh bien, je pense que j’ai besoin d’écrire quelques mots en français ici parce qu’il y a longtemps que je n’ai parlé ni écrit en français…

Cette semaine est la denière du premier semestre. Les examens approchent, cependant, je me sens… vide. Même que ces examens déterminent la plupart de nos notes, je n’ai étudié encore. Aie. Peut-être je ne suis que parasseuse, et peut-être la peur me fera reviser… Aie aie aie.

(“Aie” est-il un mot français ? Je sais qu’il est l’un des conjugaisons du verbe “avoir,” mais est-il acceptable de l’utiliser comme exclamation ?)

Seulement quelques mots car j’ai mal à la tête. ^^;

You know, sometimes I really worry that university has turned me into some kind of freak.

1) I actually chatted to my math TA about polar curves today.
2) I looked up said mathematical curves on Wikipedia.
3) All those hours spent in Math HL came flooding back.
4) I looked at limaA~��ons, conchoids, and spirals.
5) I happened across a mathematical dragon curve.
6) I decided it was pretty and started wondering if I could make a layout from it.
7) I then discovered that mathematicians had a mice problem.
8) I wondered when I started harbouring a distaste for mathematics.
9) I remembered that I had wanted to become a mathematician when I was 7.

On second thought, I must have been a freak all along.

We interrupt Catherine’s panicking about her English term paper to bring you this website:

alllooksame.com is a site that asks a very simple question: to what extent do Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people look alike? It is really as feasible to tell them apart, as some people claim? An interesting question, to say the least, and an interesting way of testing it. I don’t feel it’s wholly scientific, however, but your results may be an interesting springboard for discussion, to say the least.

I got 11 :tongue:

There’s something oddly quaint about performing a Chem experiment on the computer. Of course, it’s all fun and games until you get HCl splashed all over your pixels.

Remind me never to do an online experiment for bonus marks again. Not only do all the reagents look exactly the same, staring at the screen for 30 minutes trying to figure out if the solution has turned pink or not can’t be good for your eyes. Oh, that, and I never got the right answer. I wasn’t even that close. The program gives no constructive criticism, so I have no idea what I did wrong :devil: Oh well. It’s not like I lost any marks…. just time that I could have spent working on my English essay >_< And Bio assignment. *cheers and half-heartedly starts a new streak of Wednesdays*

*sighs about her broken streak of blogging on Wednesdays*

m-flo released a new single, “let go,” last week. It’s part of their m-flo &#9829 … series, with rotating vocalists. I mean, who doesn’t love rotating vocalists? m-flo’s worked with Dragon Ash, BoA (yes, that BoA), Crystal Kay, and a whole slew of others. It adds an interesting dimension to their work; every song is different, and they span a variety of genres.

Anyway, onto the single.
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Okay.

1) If I’m to go into Biochem, I need BIOL 121. I do not need to take the lab course. (Wait, or do I? The website is saying two different things…) I need to take the lab course. But I can do that in the summer. Assuming I can take 121 next term. I can take BIOL 200 without having taken BIOL 112 if I take CHEM 203 at the same time. Which I definitely plan to do, since I’m interested in organic chem.

2) This would be a lot easier if I decided I didn’t like Biochem.

3) This would be even easier if I decided to become an Arts student.

4) I don’t want to go into pharmacy. It’s probably too late now, anyway.

5) Research sounds vaguely appealing but I don’t know if I’m cut out for it. I wouldn’t mind TA-ing, though. Ha, I’d probably enjoy that more than my research as a grad student.

6) Maybe I should just teach. Or maybe not.

7) Maybe I should be a Linguistics student. Problem: What in the world do you do with a linguistics degree?

8) Which program will I enter? Major? Honours? Should I do co-op? How about a minor? Would it be better to get a minor in Arts or a semi-related science?

I think it’s time to make an appointment with Science Advising…

I don’t have a Physics lab every week, although my schedule indicates that.

Every other week I have a tutorial instead, where we solve problems in groups. The tutorial is run by two TAs (teaching assistants.) One of them has a British accent and er… I don’t talk to him much. He’s rather intimidating. The other does not have a British accent. I like him better. He’s not as cold and actually engages us in conversation about stuff not related to Physics. :dorkygrin:

Without fail, the latter TA will find something interesting in or near my pencil box every two weeks.

Week #1: A set of gel pens marketed as “Smellies.” Despite the name, they actually have a pleasant odor when you write with them. When you sniff them directly, as my TA did, they smell like “ink. Now I understand. Gullible first-years buy these and spend class sniffing them, reducing their performance in Physics.”

Week #2: My English text. “You know, I got through English by never reading the book. I’d listen to what others had to say about a character, and then I’d argue the exact opposite. Finally, the teacher asked me what I thought of so-and-so, and I replied, ‘Well, I thought he didn’t really belong.’ Then he said, ‘That’s not even a character in the novel.’ ‘See?’ I said. ‘He didn’t belong!'”

Week #3: My gel pens, again. “Don’t you find that they run out really quickly? I went through a pen in two classes. I bought a set of gel pens once… accidentally. Yeah, imagine doing quantum physics in sparkly gel pen.”

Week #4: Two things this week, actually. First, my clicker. He was incredulous that these things were actually used in Physics classes. “… Physics isn’t multiple choice, pick the best answer, you know. There are many different approaches to a problem but only one right answer.” It turned out that a buddy of his had to try to write scripts to accomodate the possibility of two correct answers. *shudder* Secondly, I was cramming for a Chemistry midterm last week, and I’d scribbled all the equations I needed to know on a Post-it note. “This is chemistry? These are phyiscs equations!” “Oh, that’s because chemistry is physics and it’s all really really mixed up…” I explained, rather unhelpfully. “See, everything comes from physics. Except biology. That’s an observational science… if physicists had stumbled upon Galapagos, they would have chucked the finches into a closed system and figured out the collision rate.”

I just really, really had to get this out of my system.
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Argh, I think I’m really starting to get annoyed with these braces.

They only hurt my teeth when some kind of outside pressure is being applied to them, which makes chewing nearly impossible. Brushing my teeth feels weird, too, since I’m scared I’m going to apply enough force to brush the stupid things off. I guess it’s just a matter of adjusting, which is going to take at least another couple of days. I’ve hardly been eating at all lately, since the pain is so bad and since it takes so long to eat anything that’s not liquid. Plus, the hassle of brushing teeth after eating anything (partly because I’ve been told to, and partly because I’m paranoid) makes eating things a lot less attractive. All things considered, braces are a sure-fire way to go on a diet. :tensed: Cut down on sugar and starch, they say. Since I can’t chew right now, I might as well cut out vegetables, fruit, and meat. That leaves… milk, juice, and water. Oh, and tofu.

Worst of all is, I won’t even have a single piece of Hallowe’en candy 😥

As a typical university student, I ride the bus. More than I like. And it’s not always the most comfortable of rides. So, on the behalf of bus riders everywhere, I would like to bring the following things to the public’s attention.

1. Do not stand in the doorway if you’re not getting off until the last stop. Actually, just don’t stand in the doorway unless you’re getting off at the next stop.
2. If you are standing in the doorway, open the door for the people getting off the bus. On a crowded bus, it can be hard to get to the doors in time and missing your stop can be very frustrating.
3. If there is an empty seat and the bus is crowded, sit down. This especially applies if you have a huge backpack of doom on your back. It of course does not apply if someone who needs the seat more than you is standing.
4. Your bag does not deserve a seat. Give the seat to the carbon-based lifeform that’s not rotting in your backpack. (Although it may be just as inanimate.)
5. Keep your music to yourself. At a managable level.
6. When the bus driver tells you to move back, move back.
7. Don’t cut in line for the express bus to the university in the morning, and then tell the person who was just about to get on that “there’s no room left.”
8. Please, have your fare ready before you board, especially if you’ll be getting on the bus first. It’s not really that hard, is it?