Take Me Back to the Tech

Week six has just started here at Oregon State, which means that I've spent the last six weeks wishing I were back at MIT. Don't get me wrong, I like living in Corvallis, I love being near family and friends, and it's a nice break. Unfortunately, it's too much of a break.

My classes leave a little something to be desired. I tried to take fun classes, and to some degree they are, but they're far from intellectually stimulating. Ornithology is just a different application of really basic biology principles; Wine in the Western World lectures usually consist of our professor going off on a lot of tangents about yeast. Dendrology is interesting and very memorization-intensive, but isn't necessarily anything new to me. Continental European Literature is proving to the most difficult of my classes simply because there's a high volume of reading and lengthy class discussions where I have only minor things to contribute. I don't have homework, just a lot of reading to get through. There are a few papers coming up, however, so that should break up the monotony a little. Moral of the story: I'm bored. As much as MIT made me feel like I wasn't learning anything because it was over-the-top challenging and there was too much to do, I would take it any day over feeling this bored. Fortunately the term ends soon, and then I'll be taking a couple of classes this summer that are hopefully a bit more difficult (vector calculus and general physics with calculus).

In general, life has been pretty busy. It's just been school, sleep, cleaning my apartment, and seeing friends on occasion. I wish I had a more exciting update for all of you that still actually read this, but that's all that's been going on!

Recovery Plan

Things have been surprisingly busy post-MIT. Moving to Corvallis, figuring out OSU stuff, and helping out with FFA contests has taken up a lot of time, and otherwise I'm hanging out with friends, appreciating my time at home without classes.

Oregon State took their sweet time getting back to me, and I finally deduced that I was accepted only a week and a half before the start of spring term. Fortunately I have connections and was able to register for classes before I received the official letter (which showed up at my house last night). And I could not be more excited about classes. They're not anything special, but they're such a departure from what I was taking at MIT. I'm excited for a change of pace and a chance to recover and feel intelligent again. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy Ornithology, Wine in the Western World, and Tree and Shrub Identification. I'm going to try to take a math class, and maybe an English comp class, but a ton of classes are full so I need to find something I can get into. Regardless, with just those three classes I'm going to have a fun term.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything back on the job front. I've applied, so now I just get to wait... Some friends have given me some good suggestions, though, so I'm going to explore a few different options. Classes start in a mere five days, so I guess I'll see just how busy I get and go from there!

Oregon FFA's state convention was this past weekend at Oregon State. I helped judge Marketing Plans, and helped out a couple of teams. I was definitely reminded of just how much I love FFA, and how important agriculture is to me. It was very strange to be there, though, without the stress of competing, or a million things to do. Also, I wasn't in the blue corduroy jacket. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place. My advisor always hinted to me in high school that she thought I should be an ag teacher, and after this weekend, I'm definitely considering a little bit more seriously. Just another reason it's a good thing that I'm taking time off, I suppose, so I figure that out.

At the end of the day, I still miss MIT (and everyone there) a lot, and I'm not sure how long I'll be back here in Oregon. But being back in Oregon is definitely fun, relaxing, and the perfect way to recover from the stresses of MIT.

Press Conference

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. That's a black turtleneck.

That's also my empty closet. In my empty room.

Empty. As in devoid of my things. Those things are now in cardboard boxes that are patiently waiting for the nice UPS employee that will be coming on Monday to pick them up and set them on their way in an epic journey across the country, toward their final destination of my family's front doorstep.

I guess I should provide some backstory. When I was first admitted to MIT, I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to come here. I was seriously considering going to Oregon State to major in something related to agriculture. But, you don't say no to MIT. So I came here, and every term was far from perfect. I loved certain things about MIT - the people, the culture, the location - but I certainly hated the academics.

This past term was especially far from perfect. Swine flu, stress and a million other factors contributed, and it was clear that this was not sustainable.

As such, I'll be taking at least a couple of terms off from MIT. My game plan is to attend Oregon State and explore majors related to botany and horticulture (definitely not options available at MIT), catch up a little, and take some time to figure out what I really want to do. It pains me, because I am going to genuinely miss my friends around campus, at WMBR and my sisters in Pi Beta Phi. Unfortunately, this seems to be the best option for me, so I can get back on my feet. Thanks to everyone who's been so supportive thus far! And thanks to Zoe and Ahmed for helping me pack this afternoon.

Steve Jobs

As many of you probably know, Steve Jobs and his turtleneck that he's had surgically attached to his body got up on a stage this past Wednesday and announced that the world would have another Apple product to drool over, even though it was missing a million features normal people would want in a computer-type device because they're logical.

Steve Jobs is a smart man.

For months, geeks everywhere waited with baited breath while their Apple insider blog of choice loaded, hoping that something would pop up on their screen bearing news of a tablet computer. Everyone speculated about the possible features, some people ruthlessly kept tabs on just what Apple was buying. Steve Jobs kept everyone in suspense, so when the actual product was finally released, people were marginally okay with the fact that it doesn't even have a USB port.

I'm going to copy Steve Jobs. Well, copy is probably the wrong word. I definitely have news for you, but I'm not going to wait several months, then have a press conference. Maybe I'll wear a black turtleneck, though (I just found mine in the back of my closet today...). But I am going to tell you that I have news, and I'm posting it here on Saturday. Hell, I'll even liveblog it. Well, it's going to be a blog, so I suppose I'll have to figure out how to liveblog a blog. Anyway.

The only hints I'll give is that I'll explain the past few months of silence, and I'm not releasing iLife 2010.

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News. That happens to really only be mediocre. This Saturday. Black turtleneck and everything.

Be there.

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(Some of you already know the news. Don't spoil my fun. The only reason I'm waiting until Saturday is that I don't know what to write and I'm hoping I'll come up with something by then... I'm also super busy.)

50 Things I'm Thankful For

I hope all of you in the US had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope that the rest of you had a good Thursday. My Thanksgiving was spent here at MIT, working on a multivariable calculus p-set, sleeping, hanging out with friends, and engorging myself on delicious food.

In honor of the spirit of Thanksgiving, here's a list of 50 things I'm thankful for right now. Clearly it is not a comprehensive list, but I hope that it can begin to make up for all of the complaining I do on this blog.

50. Strawberries.
49. Pineapple, and pineapple juice.
48. MIT FML.
47. Soup.
46. Gatorade.
45. Ibuprofen and acetaminophen.
44. MIT Medical.
43. Public transportation.
42. Sunrises.
41. Campfires.
40. Rain.
39. Post-It notes.
38. My Boston Moleskine.
37. Ikea.
36. Snow Leopard.
35. Infinite Jest and Infinite Summer.
34. Facebook.
33. Youtube.
32. Twitter.
31. Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
30. This website.
29. Not being allergic to wheat or dairy.
28. Cheese!
27. The Office.
26. My ukulele.
25. Good music and good concerts.
24. Good movies.
23. BBQs with friends.
22. Warm summer evenings.
21. Fairs and rodeos.
20. Star Trek.
19. Monty Python.
18. Girls Nights.
17. Cameras.
16. External Hard Drives.
15. E-mail.
14. Letters, postcards and packages.
13. WMBR.
12. LaundryView.
11. Airplanes and direct flights.
10. Cellphones and Skype and IM.
9. Student Support Services.
8. The food in my refrigerator.
7. Boston.
6. Oregon.
5. Pi Beta Phi.
4. Caffeine (and Starbucks and Dutch Brothers).
3. Agriculture and FFA.
2. MIT (and the fact that they still let me come here).
1. The Important People in my life. (Family, friends and this person.)