College is a movie

I use the term "movie" freely to mean "part of your life." So, college, to me, is just another movie. College has it's deposits, housing problems, parking permits, roommates, deposits, books, I.D. cards, meal plans, libraries, deposits, crazy people, and did I mention depos...ah, well, you get the picture.

I woke up today quite early. 6:30 AM good enough for you? Yeah, well, it was too much for me. However, I didn't want to be late for good 'ol college algebra. The teacher was nice enough, Ms. Dunlop-Pyle. She seems a lot like a regular high school teacher. Not much craziness here. The classroom looked smaller than the "movie-style" huge university classrooms, but it seated about 400 kids or so. Now, I know what many of you are thinking. What about, "I only wanna be with WU?" Take a look at my information page, and you'll see that I have two college algebra classes, one with Pyle (lecture) and one with Wu (discussion). So, I get the best of both worlds. Never hurts to have a little sushi with your math. However, walking into the class, something very interesting took place -- from behind me, not twenty seconds after walking in, I hear...

JESSE CHAPMAN!

Who could it be? None other than the hair-straightening LAURA NEGRON (names have been "whitted" out to protect the innocent. Just highlight over the text to reveal the mystery person). Yes, it was her. The mysterious figure who's haunted my dreams ever since I stopped wetting the bed. So...going on, three weeks now.

I still don't have a can opener.

So, she screams my name, comes up to me, and we sat together all class. We did have a good time, though. We made fun of pretty much everything there is to make fun of -- which is what Laura's best at. We were walking with each other after class when some random comes up to me and starts asking a bunch of questions. Well, if there's one thing I've learned about college, it's to pretend you know everything there is to know. If someone asks a question, make up an answer based on what you already know, then follow it with some safe, non-trapping excuse to allow yourself some leeway. Example:

Loser6654: Excuse me, hey, you're in my residence hall, aren't you?
Me_Me_Me: Yeah, hi. What's going on?
Loser6654: Well, I'm not sure where the classes for the MOD rooms are. Do you know where they might be? It says here on the map that it's behind the communications building.
Me_Me_Me: Yeah, actually. They are behind the communications building. But, I'm not sure where, exactly. They change it every year.
Loser6654: Oh, okay. Thanks!

Like I said, make it up.

So, I saw some famous people today, which inspired me to make a separate section in the journal. It's called People Who Go to UCF (Even if They Don't Know It) (currently not available). More people will be added as they are sighted. As you've probably noticed, I actually redesigned the entire journal section with an updated title, and a fun little introduction graphic. Hope you enjoy that.

I was happy when I got my books today, although it was a crazy rush to do so. People screaming in lines, "I need ENC 1101," "Excuse me, ma'am, I need PSY 2021, do you have 2021?" "You ain't my babies daddy!" Ah, young love. The parking pass was much easier to acquire. Everything seemed to work out fine today for me until later in the night, but that's another story.

Poor Kurtis was trying to figure out the Internet connection here at UCF. I pretended not to really know what was going on, and such. You know, the standard, "Yeah, I had that problem," as to not make him feel bad, or anything. Truth is, I could tell he wanted to ask me how to do it. Well, if he would have asked at that moment, I would have told him that I ran the CD that came included with my welcome package. I'm assuming most people just think it's some sort of introductory crap, but it was in fact the registration and activation key for your computer. It's all very high tech, actually.

A few minutes passed and the question came:

Kurt_Douglas53: Uh, dude, do you know how to register?
Me_Me_Me: Umm, let me see where you are in the process.

So, there's my community service for the year. Helping a man I don't even know, and it wasn't even as dangerous as crossing the street. So, I simply follow the instructions, click on the link to download the program.

Me_Me_Me: Well, that's it, just let that baby download, and the...n...

And then the error message came.



Of course we all knew what that meant. Something was wrong, but no one knew what, exactly. Even with my years of computer experience, I couldn't figure out the problem. He had his computer plugged in. It was on. A wire was running from his computer to the ethernet network connection. He was registering for the network access codes. He did everything as I did, except it wasn't working for him. Kurtis was on the phone for awhile with the HELP DESK (a sacred tribe of people who worship things like Half-Life: Counter-Strike, and do nothing to help the innocent UCF students with their simple-minded problems) But, Kurt was only one the phone for a few minutes when...a single EVIL from next door walked in.

Braids_in_Hair25: So, did you get it working?
Kurt_Douglas53: Uh, no, dude.
Braids_in_Hair25: What's wrong?
Me_Me_Me: It's telling him that he's not connected to the Internet. I'm not sure what the problem is.
Braids_in_Hair25: You sure you got the wires plugged in?
Kurt_Douglas53: Yeah, in the big phone jack one.

Brady peeked around the back of the computer. It wasn't more than ten seconds before he comes back around and says the most amazing sentence I'd heard in over an hour.

Braids_in_Hair25: You can't plug a phone cord into a network port.

What the...? Did I miss that? Yes, I did. Kurt, with all his genius, had plugged the phone wire into the network port in the wall. That's like putting EasyMac in the fireplace. It's just not going to work. Well, I think that Brady has earned the right to be considered less than evil. So, now the two people in the room next to me will be referred to as:

"THE LESS THAN EVIL"

I think it's only fair.

Well, it was time for English class, ladies and gentlemen. The hour had come, and I was ready to take on the world. I walked into the class hoping to see another lecture hall, but indeed the class was quite small. A class of about twenty-five students, if that. I sit down in the front row of the class, and in walks this crazy looking man of about fifty.

Mr. Steven Ethridge (AKA BILL, above) has a masters in English and martial arts.

So, my teacher (whom I will now refer to as BILL, for his striking resemblance to the man from the popular movie, KILL BILL: Volume II) walks into the room like he's looking for something. He's scattered, and doesn't quite know what to do. He finally gets his computer to start working and announces to the class:

Mr. Bourguignon (above) made his debut film appearance in Haiku Tunnel. It's said that the movie is very confusing, people lose interest in it quickly, and no one pays attention to him when he's talking. Ah, just like Physics.

KILLbillKILL: I don't have anything to hand out to you today.

Well, that was certainly a surprise. However, he gave us the super helpful web-site: http://reach.ucf.edu/~enc1101a. Feel free to take a look at my class syllabus. So, that must be the popular thing to go now. Everything is pretty much handed out online. Environmentalist around the world are celebrating as I type.

That's interesting. I just heard Kurtis call John "Bert." Humm...we'll have to think of a fun nickname for him. And Brady's name is "Brady," just for the record.

I spoke with Judy for awhile today. We talked about Seussical, and how the costume designer was in a car accident. Or...was that going to happen...I can't remember. Amanda and I spoke briefly today, as well. I'm thinking of a good time go visit her campus and see what's up with her. Hopefully, I'll have some time soon to do that. I recorded a new voice mail greeting that I'm hoping JAMIE LOWE will hear (if he ever decides to call me again). I'm not leaving it like that for long, kiddos. So, call while you can.

I went to Barnes & Nobel to study for algebra tonight. I got really stressed out. Take a look at this:

p2: 2, 3, 5 -10, p4: 1-17, p6: 1-9, p17: 1-21 odd, 23, 29-43 odd, 52, p27: 1-15 odd, 29 41 odd, p36: 1-37 odd, p46: 1, 3, 9, 11, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 35, 53, 55.

This is the house that Jake built. Well, not exactly. But it is the apartment that he and Rachel are staying in. Rachel has the bigger bedroom (most likely so she can invite man men to sleep with her in bed. Her and Amanda are very similar in that regard). Other than the obvious prostitution uses, the apartment looks very nice. I wish I had a kitchen.

Humm, seems like a lot of work to me. I was working on it in the store tonight, and I got really stressed out. The material is old, my mind was tired, and...I don't really even need the course. The only reason I'm taking it is because it's a required course for many majors. Film, however, is not one of them. But, if for some unforeseen consequence or reason, I decide to change my major, then I'll later have to take an additional math course. So, I'm not prepared to take more math than I need to.

I avoided taking multiple math courses like Liberal Arts in high school simply by taking advanced math courses.

Does that make sense?

I hate it so much, but I'd rather work really hard on a harder class and get it done with. That theory just went straight down the drain when I took Mr. Bourguignon, though.

Rachel and I talked for a little bit tonight. Not too long, though, because I had to type this lovely piece of literature. I asked her a million questions about her college and everything. Things are very different with her up there since they don't have a state-funded scholarship like Bright Futures. She's living in an apartment with a high-school friend of hers, Jake, whom I've talked to over the phone only once -- but he is worthy of living with Rachel. He seems like a very nice person, and he's interested in my craft (BONUS POINTS!) I'd love to meet him. In fact, I may visit up in Virginia in the October month, but I'll have to speak with my mom on such matters. I think she knows how much it means to me to spend time with my friends -- especially one as special as her.

I spoke with Katie online tonight about college life, and spoke with Martha MacDermid, one of Judy's old high school gal-pals, at length. Both of them are doing fine.

Today, math and english. Tomorrow, math and psychology. Now, sleep. 1:45 AM.