Was indecisive about choosing the right ENGL200 class, but now... (Personal Entry)

Note: ENGL200 = English 200 = Expository Writing II.

First choice: Justin 341

The first English 200 class I went to was some section from 0930-1045 on Tuesdays & Thursdays at Justin 341. The TA looked more like a fraternity guy than a real Expos teacher. That probably meant he'd be a cool guy to have as an instructor, so I felt indifferent to that.

The turn-offs were how old and unrenovated the classroom and desks looked. Also, it seemed more crowded than I wanted it to be. We sat in circles and for the first 20 seconds, I couldn't find a seat so darting my eyes around the room for an empty desk in front of the class made me feel a bit embarrassed.

Some guy from Phoenix (whom I couldn't find here on FB because he probably gave me a false last name) didn't seem like the friendliest guy in the class either. He'd probably be on the same league with "Alphonse Sleevehardy" (of the Nagasaki GaiDai, for those of you who don't know.) I noticed him mutter something quietly to a girl next to him, and although I couldn't tell what he was saying, I'm sure it was something demeaning about me. My gut just thought me this. I guess the heat of one's home climate sometimes does shape one's disposition. (I'd feel more miserable in consistently hot climates, like in Phoenix, and so would he I suppose.)

2nd Choice: Seaton 127

I wasn't going to get comfortable in that class so I looked through the list of ENGL200 classes on the iSiS system. Brenda S. M. seemed like someone I'd like better (just from the name, unfortunately) so I tried hers on Thursday.

(Note: I decided to take classes on any day but Friday so I'm only in Tuesday & Thursday classes. That means I get 5 days off from classes each week! =) )

When I went to Seaton 127, the classroom looked much more modern and roomy, but I knew just from the look of her that this wouldn't be a fun class. Deep down, I was kinda hoping to get proven wrong, but alas, my instincts were right once again! Even though an info page on her said she got an MS in 1988, she looked older than my mother, who is now 47. She also looked like a boarding school teacher.

I got bored within the first 90 seconds of her lecture. Brenda sounded like she belonged in a military school's faculty (or that of any school where Discipline is the #1 fad.) I couldn't absorb her lecture any better than a water could go in rock! Some girl who sat to the left of me was more friendly to me than the usual girl right away, but even though I appreciated her overly compassionate and amicable demeanor, that wasn't enough to keep me in the class. (No offense to her. It was the teacher's way of instructing that caused me to change again.)

3rd Choice: Willard 120

I chose a 1430-1545 section in Willard 120 taught by Callie Fitzgerald K. I thought that sounded like a younger girl's name so I had a feeling this class would be more fun. As this name-trend website would prove, I was right. Search Brenda & Callie to see for yourself.

My memory got skewed so I thought it was Willard 127. It turns out Willard didn't have a Room 127; I confused it with the previous room in Seaton. I found out it was 120 and came in a few minutes late because of my confusion, but I didn't interrupt much because my new classmates were working on a quick writing essay to describe a won argument.

As soon as I laid eyes on the new instructor, she looked quite a bit more attractive than the other instructors I have had in the past few semesters (save for one or two of the GaiDai instructors, I suppose.) She also looked about my age, maybe three years older, tops. I knew this was going to be a fun class!

I am not too fond of writing essays manually anymore so I was about to start on my laptop and she told me we're not using computers, so I had to get out a pencil and a sheet. I went ahead and had the laptop recharge, and did what I could to manually write such an agonozingly long (seemingly long) essay. (By the time I got through two paragraphs, a few others got through an entire page.)

I easily overlooked that because this would be a pretty darn small price to pay for being in this class. The real papers would have to be done only on computer anyway.

We shared our won and lost arguments with our partners, with a few of us sharing it with the class. All that was pretty fun to hear, so this attested to what my instincts thought me.

Later in the class, we had a class discussion about what to use and not use when making a persuasion/argument, and I still felt fun from that.

I'm striving to be the best negotiator in anything, and English 200 is also a class that teaches persuasion (albeit in written form. I'll take a Debate class in a future semester, I suppose.)

I wish I had known about Callie earlier, because I would've chosen her class in a second. Better late than never though. The only issue right now there is that particular class section is full; the maximum allowed is 22 students, and I was the 23rd. Callie said she didn't see (expect) any more students dropping, so she suggested I take the section immediately after that she also teaches, but ends at 5:10. There were four seats left as of then. I'm hoping to stay in the 2:30 class instead. It seems good enough for now.

Besides, that next section she mentioned is in a basement room of Eisenhower, and I've been to it. It doesn't look as modern and aesthetically appealing as Willard 120. The basement classrooms have butter walls, and I don't think my mind responds well (as in gets stimulated) by butter-yellow, whereas Willard 127's walls, desks, and floor have varying accents of sky-blue and lavender mixed together. (What is the name of the color you get from mixing sky-blue and lavender?)

I've never taken any class (that I remember) that ends after 5 (the traditional end of a work day) and I don't think I'm about t o. I'm pretty hesitant for that so although she's the same exciting teacher, I hope to stay in the 2:30 section.

Other than that, I'm definitely staying with Callie's classes now! If only more students would know about her. But then again, her classes will fill up too fast if they do!

Ah, I have reached the 400-friend milestone. Many thanks to you. (Personal Entry)

Now that I have 401, I feel more "accepted" than I have ever (?) felt before.

(I may have been around church groups and other friendly groups who have universally accepted me as well as each other, so the feelings may be similar here. But this is one heck of a milestone!)

The honor of being my 400th friend goes to:

My sister Natasha??

What happened here was she deleted her old Facebook account (and therefore took everyone off of her friend list) so she could start brand-new, all over again. She also made her profile very private so that no casual user could ever find her on a search nor her friends' friend lists. (Therefore, your view may only show 400 (or less?) friends on my friends list because at least one of my friends has a very strict privacy setting.)

She also said it would be better for her to request friends than for strangers to request her. I didn't think she was that introverted; maybe she'll be more outgoing and show her profile more once she's in college next year.

Gas prices have been over $3.50 a gallon and Mom buys an SUV! (Personal Entry)

Isn't that zettai totetsumonai!? ("Absolutely Unbelieveable!?" No se habla Nihongo, do you?)

I will take pictures of the SUV soon, but I first saw her white 2008 Toyota 4Runner (Urban Runner trimline) when she picked me up from the airport in Wichita. At that point, this good-sized SUV only had slightly over 400 miles on the odometer.

I thought the interior seemed pretty roomy and trendy, with new technological perks and so forth, but I immediately started to wonder why she'd be willing to spend more on fuel when she needs to send my sister Natasha off to college next year (and my youngest sister Mimi off in the fall of '13.)

She said she doesn't drive "at all" (really, not as much as a daily commuter who works well away from home) so at about 5,000-6,000 miles a year, the fuel costs shouldn't put quite a dent into her pocketbook.

Costs and Incentives

As for the cost of the whole vehicle, the incentives and bonuses for buying the SUV were unparalleled. Fuel prices caused dealerships to have their lots JAMMED with unsold SUVs (and others traded in for hybrids and any other fuel-efficient vehicle.) Maintenance, cleaning, insurance, and other costs of simply keeping a vehicle on the lot have been unsettling dealers everywhere. Therefore, it was better (in these times) to cut their losses and not worry about profits from any SUV sale.

This caused them to cut their price for Mom's new SUV by $5,000 (from ~$37,000 to ~$32,000) and have her pay with ZERO INTEREST for the next five years. (She expects to entirely have it paid off in five years. At $450 a month though, after a $5,000 down payment, that could have been better spent on a college fund for both of my sisters.)

None of these incentives would've existed for more fuel-efficient vehicles, and certainly not hybrids, which are now the hottest commodities on the automotive market. Mom believes their initial cost would've been higher, and she might be right, but who knows how well the fuel savings would've offset that.

She also doesn't like small cars. (and I think weighs as much as Mimi now. She isn't wide at all so she COULD fit comfortably in one.) That's why I let her know about the Ford Escape. She thought that still would've been too small...

I didn't mention the environment to her so I don't know her POV on that yet, but if I remember to, I will ask tomorrow.

The mileage for the new SUV is 16/21 city/highway but with the air-conditioner on at highway speeds, the average appeared to be 18. Our dashboard shows the average MPG for the moment, the range remaining (how many miles until we need another fill-up,) and other statistics we couldn't have seen in models significantly older than these.

Its GPS

The Toyota 4Runner Urban Runner is our second vehicle with a GPS navigation system, but we couldn't get it to work (at least while I was in it) because the graphic would only keep showing a blue SD Card coming out of the bottom of the GPS device and a red "X" slashing it. If we took the card out, it would show the card being inserted into the GPS device. Apparently the "TomTom" navigation device is giving us an annoying Catch-22. Therefore, I set up an appointment for Mom to bring in the SUV for service at her dealership on Tuesday at 10:30. It's still pretty new so the fresh warranty ought to cover all of the servicing.

Website

http://www.motortrend.com/features/auto_news/2008/112_news070802_2008_toyota_4runner_urban_runner_package/index.html

Cool; I have an entire week to resettle! (Personal Entry)

For a while, I thought classes at K-State start on the 3rd Monday of August, like many schools traditionally do, so after I got off my last flight of my numerous hops from Nagasaki, I thought I'd only have two days to move back into my apartment in Manhattan, enroll in classes, buy books and supplies, and start going to class.

It looks like I have more time than I thought I did.

I checked the K-State calendar here and I feel relief; I have an entire week to resettle back into my apartment and get ready for the new Fall.

I'm typing from my family's home in Lindsborg right now; I haven't gotten to see Manhattan yet and won't until about Tuesday or so, so as soon as I tour Chapman's tornado damages and come back, there ought to be a lot of progress made in the construction of our new parking garage, and the other ambitious downtown development that'll turn Manhattan into a trendy suburbia (though for its own city.)

Then my apartment will have (hopefully) gone through a thorough renovation, like my landlady said it would go through. (A subleaser was filling out the documents when a leak was discovered above where my bed would've been; looks like I got out of there just in time!) They discovered other issues that needed repairs and renovations after finding the leak, so hopefully my apartment will cosmetically look better as soon as I find the key that I left with my family and open its door for the first time in five months.

As for all of my textbooks, I'm so glad I'll have all the time I need to find them. I hope to find a digital version for each and every one of them (either online, or on a disk from Varney's Bookstore) so that I wouldn't have to strain my back carrying them anymore. If not, I could possibly find an illegitimate digital textbook from ThePirateBay or a torrent site. The traditional textbooks break our wallets AND our backs!

Whatever time it takes to complete my reverse culture shock (which I believe there isn't much of) will all be spent on Resettlement Week.

I ought to have a better chance in a job search now that I can put studying abroad and my private tutoring job on my resume. The reason for leaving that job would be perfectly acceptable to any employer - it was almost time for me to leave Japan. I'll hopefully visit Career & Employment Services at K-State or the Manhattan Workforce Center during Resettlement Week to polish my resume (with critiques) and conduct practice interviews.

Private tutoring uses and improves leadership skills, and many recruiters are looking to hire new candidates with any particular leadership experience, so that will improve my chances even further. My resume is already two pages full, so I will have to remove something from there - my least favorite past jobs, perhaps?

It's so nice to come back to familiar surroundings now (though I'll now have to buy a washlet, being unwilling to go back to the old way), and see old friends again and ask what they did all summer, and so forth. Let us hope there are new clubs at K-State and anything new (perhaps a Korean class, for crying out loud!) I'm so happy that my long hop home has finally about ended!

All aliases listed here - GaiDai Students (Personal Entry)

Now that I'm back in America (and San Diego for the meantime,) all of the fellow GaiDai students now feel like the characters of a distant fairy-tale. There are no alumni reunions; absolutely nothing of the sort. There is virtually zero chance of seeing them again, so everybody from the GaiDai are all but a remote memory now. It feels so strange and gives me goosebumps; it has a weird kind of euphoria so that's how I'm coping with the parting of our ways.

Now here are the aliases I made of the GaiDai students, and used in case any of them didn't appreciate (their real names) being mentioned on my notes.

Altered Names Legend (GaiDai)

1. Alphonse Sleevehardy (The new first name on the alias makes him less obvious)
2. Antoine Valero
3. Nelson Schire
4. Karina Yeshoover
5. Dietrich Humvee
6. Sally Leatherman
7. Gerald Good
8. T.C.
9. Stelson Biaki
10. Carlos Ford
11. Charlene Branchwell
12. Si Miao "Cissi" Chienne
13. Natalie Youthful
14. Justin Pooles
15. Shkelzen Loi
16. Jusso Sewing
17. Dillon Schmidt
18. Ronald Sieeke-Showe (No male ryugakusei had a hyphenated surname this semester, so this is not the correlation. Think of "opposites.")
19. Carson Character
20. Jolanda Stelsen
21. Trey Grommet
22. Kayli Lordship-Bourgeois – (This is NOT Sarah Rogers-Tanner; I assigned a hyphenated alias to another one of our ryugakusei)
23. Rosnell Strossner (This here is a bit of an Easter Egg...)
24. Brock DiNardo (Matt DiNardo is a weatherman {Warning: colorful monologue lies herein!}, and this ryugakusei's real last name was that of a weatherman some well-known pseudo-Kazakhstani news reporter visited...)
25. Retyna Hwa
26. Javier Denimen
27. Justin Cleaver
28. Tilden Sherwin
29. Naikoma Daye
30. Dallas Juveni
31. Chevi Sprint (I never used this one in any of my notes, but I would have LOVED to call her that! I'll give a more obvious hint in this video. Now, can you figure out who she was?)
32. Ronne Mistpainter
33. Tilden Chardeau
34. Luigi Brooks
35. Jeanessa Strummer
36. Jerren Nellis
37. Masaki Sadoka
38. Carson LaRope
39. Moka Lei
40. Siera Lei (<-- And I thought her name was Iris Huo for a while...)

Mine: Java, Java Skorzeni, Java Shimoya, Egao No Genki, or Tanaka Shimoya

Who does these aliases belong to? If no one figures out what aliases belong to whom, I'll probably keep using them as before in my future notes.

What not to say at a job fair (Personal Entry)

Pay particular notice to 1:47-1:58 on this video:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/08/07/ewart.china.security.ITN

She asks a headhuntress, at a JOB FAIR of all places, if there are any openings at her company!

No wonder she keeps looking from booth to booth! If a company didn't have any openings, why would they even set up a kiosk there in the first place???

I'm sorry, but I just had to post this! This is a warning to anyone looking for a job NOT to ask if they have a job opening while at a job fair! (Even college students make these slip-ups once in a while.)

You can ask them that question if you call or visit them at the actual job site, but they may usually put up a "NOW HIRING" banner if they do have openings. Some don't, so if they don't, you could look in the newspaper's wanted ads first before asking them.

(PS: A more intelligent question I would like to ask here is: "How many positions do you have open right now?")

What questions can you think of that a candidate should never ask in certain places?

How I plan to Die (Personal Entry)

Date: 2200

Age: 200+

(Aren't we all? At least those who are allowed to be on Facebook today, that is.)

We will have to die eventually, even when medical science advances our life expectancies faster than we age.

I have reason to believe that by 2200, I will have accomplished all I've ever wanted to in life. (That ought to be plenty of time for anything in any case.)

Therefore, it would be time for me to move to the next plane of existence.

Plan A

If we're fighting an extraterrestrial form of Al-Qaeda in some star system over 25 light-years away, I'll enlist onto a starfighter squadron and go brazenly all-out on the enemies until any of them manage to kill me.

However, I'll bet that by 2200, the automated med-ships of my United Federation of Planets (or whoever I'll fight for) will:

1. Find my body floating in space,
2. Teleport me back to a resuscitation vat,
3. Mend me back together (with micro-robotic surgical claws, etc.)
4. Upload a pre-saved personality of mine (with memories and all) into my new brain,
5. And bring me back to life, good as new (in the bodily condition of a 20-year-old) in less than 30 minutes.

(As for #4, a pre-saved personality will surely be a very recent one because a bedside mindscanner will record my dreams and save my memories every night.)

Plan B

If THAT happens, I will simply transcend into a higher being made of energy by going to some kind of a transcendence center. If Humankind can't invent one by then (and lets hope we will thanks to a TS), I will probably try to find one on any alien's planet I visit.

(I can't plan this)

If nobody has such a thing anywhere, I'll probably fly into a black hole and be GUARANTEED to be done with life! No, wait, that's tantamount to "suicide," and I learned when I was little that anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell. (Disclaimer: The Bible does not say this anywhere, but Thou Shalt Not Kill, even when it involves yourself.)

Plan C

I should maybe fly to a part of the galaxy so remote, no UFP med-ship will find me. Then I find a war, join a side, and die in battle again. I'll bet my bodily physiology will be so strange and unfamiliar to aliens many thousands of light-years away, that their med-bots will not know how to bring me back to life and will therefore simply give me an honorable burial in one of their research centers for extraterrestrial studies. I might become their "Little Green Man" in their Roswell. (Though not green, and not little, at ~72 inches tall.)

No, maybe I ought to scratch that again. They could scan and analyze my body, and learn how to resuscitate it, being as advanced as they are. Now I know what to do:

Plan D

Find a planet whose inhabitants' societal and technological level is no more than that of our society's in the year 2010, and participate in one of their wars there. They won't have the technology to resurrect me.

Potentially, my starfighter can win all of my side's wars singlehandedly, but my ammo and/or fuel could run out, then I'd have to land and start using their antiquated weapons. Then I'd finally have a chance to die! Or not; their star's solar rays could recharge my engine and phaser banks. Someone would have to shoot me down, but that'll be useless; my energy shields would deflect them all.

Plan E

I guess I'd then have to:

1. Resist the urge to use my weapons any longer
2. Therefore give my starfighter to their planet's equivalent of The Smithsonian
3. Join their army and use their primitive weapons and armor
4. And finally die alongside them in battle.

Conclusion

There ought to not be a way out of THAT one.

How do YOU plan to die?

My Post-Nagasaki Whereabouts - Part 2 (Personal Entry)

While in Seoul

Around Seoul, I already told you the taxi fares on a previous note so I didn't mind taking taxis fairly often, even "Mobeom" taxis were more luxurious, but still cheaper than the Japanese taxis.

The subways all cost less than $2 one way wherever I went. Good thing I can read Korean! Look up "Seoul Subway" on Google or Wikipedia if you want to find out what their pricing structures are; I'll not explain but they're awesomely cheap.

I still found more washlets!

I thought I was going to miss the Washlet in Korea but they also have them, called "bide" (비데; from the French "bidet") but in less locations than in Japan.

For a while, I couldn't find any, but I found some at a "Shinsegae" store in the Namdaemun area of Seoul. There are two Shinsegae stores across the street from each other, connected by a 3rd (or 4th) floor walkway.

I was in the older, shorter store that sold Louis Vuitton, Rolex, and other elite luxury goods. That place was only for the top echelons of Korean society! No wonder they had washlets in their restrooms. You've gotta love that part of East Asia.

My family is catching on the luxury sanitation bandwagon now. The apartment of my Uncle ("Samchun") and aunt-in-law ("Wesumo") has a washlet, though my grandma's ("Halmeoni") apartment didn't. It felt quite nice to finally leave grandma's sweltering place. Her shower didn't have heated water either. She sticks to the old ways, so it was hard to tolerate.

Myeongdong; the "Rodeo Drive" of Seoul"

Myeongdong was an upscale edition of Namdaemun; The premium shopping district had a bricked, pedestrian-only street and had quite a lot of eye candy. I thought of buying a Nintendo DS from there but even though they were cheaper than Japan, they were about ~$147, whereas they're only ~$130 in America the last I heard. You can read more about Myeongdong from a simple Google or Wikipedia search if you really want to...

Leaving Seoul

Haircut

My Samchun drove me to the Incheon airport on the day of my departing flight after taking me for a haircut AND a coloring for just 16,000 Won (~$15.54). They even shaved my face clean and placed facewash on me. A lot of extras for a little cash; hairdressers won't do that much for even ~triple the price in the US!

Incheon Airport

What stuck out in my eyes were a few patrolling police officers with machine guns walking up and down the concourses of the airport.

Also, there was a monorail for transfer flight passengers, rather than a bus as seen in other airports.

(Getting tired; to be continued with Beijing and beyond...)

Bomb Threat To Air China - (Edit: Well, that's passed.) (Personal Entry)

On the 10th, (in less than 48 hours already; time really DOES fly fast!) I'll be flying from Incheon on an Air China flight. As I've mentioned in other blogs, it flies to Beijing first, before going to Los Angeles and then San Diego.

(I'm not that interested in seeing the Olympics. If I ever become interested, I could just find a recording to watch.)

Now, a Japanese would-be terrorist sent a bomb threat. See the news article here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26088166/

Title and Subtitle:

"E-mail threat turns back Air China plane"
"Jet forced to return to Japan, where officials suspect tie to Olympics"

Normally, I would shrug off a news article like this, but considering this is to an airline I will fly on in less than 48 hours, I feel kinda concerned.

Let us hope this unseen terrorist nor whatever terrorist group he's in does not bomb Air China Flights CA126 and CA983, the first two flights I'll be on. If there are any reports of a bombing of an Air China flight, let us hope it's none of these numbers.

And I reckon that if a bombing were to happen on my plane, I may survive anyhow, according to the law of Quantum Immortality.

Update from Beijing

I'm waiting to get on to a connecting flight to LA, also with Air China. So far, so good, and this airport is quite a wonder to behold, when it comes to how it looks and sparkles!

Once I land in LA, this mild fear will all be over.

To be continued, hopefully.

Landed in LA safely

Well, I landed in LA without much trouble. We don't have to worry about it anymore. For all we know, they may have tracked down the man who sent the threat. As long as no threats are made to Frontier Airlines (my domestic flight back to KS), there's absolutely nothing to give notice to.

Back in America, once again. I'm so glad the barrier struggles are all gone...