penndawg21's Xanga

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:10:18 GMT

So I haven't updated this thing in, well, months. What else is new.

As for the promise in last post to update on my trip in Spain, I did.

Just not on this site. I started (and subsequently ended) a blog at http://puertorealreu.blogspot.com/

I meant to post a link.

But I didn't.

Sorry.

As for now, I'm back in school at Millersville. My toughest class is physical chemistry (pchem for short).

We have a pchem test scheduled for Friday.

My parents are planning to go to Delaware on Thursday. I was hoping to go with them.

But I guess not. Unless the test gets rescheduled.

Other than that, life goes on. I don't know what is going to happen next. I've been church-shopping. But I don't know if leaving my old church is a good idea. Even though I really want to leave. I like the people (mostly). But I don't like all the rules, though admittedly some of them make sense. Some of the others don't.

What other things have been happening that matter to you and me. Not much. I was part of a float in the New Holland parade. The Freedom Float. Basically we waved flags, played patriotic music, and handed out copies of the Constitution. It was cold. I'm not so sure about political activism, but I did it anyway. Maybe growing up in a Mennonite church has something to do with my uneasiness. Maybe it's something else. Who knows.

If you are looking for funny jokes, look no farther.

But you might have to wait awhile.

<edit> The test for pchem got rescheduled for next Wednesday. Ok Delaware.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:09:40 GMT

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:01:38 GMT

About two months ago, I received an email from the Chemistry Department at Millersville. It was an application for a summer research opportunity for undergraduate students (REU) in Cadíz, Spain. So to make a long story short, here I am sitting in a small room in an apartment building on the outskirts of Puerto Real in southern Spain. It´s Thursday evening, cool, breezy and the fair is going to start at 10pm. The feria is a big deal here is Puerto Real; they shut the whole town down for several days and serve special drinks and dress up in flamingo outfits and dance. I will take pictures and post them somewhere.

So after two and a half days of orientation at Bucknell University last week we left point A and travelled to point B (Point A being Lewisburg, PA and Point B being Puerto Real, Spain). So it was bus, plane, bus, plane, and van. With much walking in between. And eating. We had American food, Spanish food, drinks, etc. It was good eating.

We got to Puerto Real on Sunday night. And found a restaraunt with a Spanish menu, Spanish waiter/bartender, and Spanish food. Luckily two girls in our group, Olyvya and Ruth, speak Spanish so they could interpret for us. We slept (or tried to), woke up, ate, walked around Puerto Real and ate some more. Then on Tuesday we were formally welcomed to the University of Cadíz by the Rector. We climbed to the top of Torre Tavira (a watchtower formerly used by merchants to watch for ships), had a most excellent meal that lasted longer than most church services, and explored the city. Spanish food is good.

Today I woke up late. My room is on the second floor. It has a window into a tiny white private courtyard. The others tried to wake me, but they couldn´t get into the apartment or the tiny courtyard. So they couldn´t pound on my bedroom door, or throw stuff at my window. My alarm clock dutifully rang, but it was promptly shut off by a lethargic, mostly unconscious individual. So after missing our first Spanish class, I finally woke up at 10:10am. At least I woke in a general sense of the word.

We were given lab coats and goggles, toured the university, and ate lunch. Then we were assigned to our labs and given glassware. I am in the same lab as Jeff, Rachel and Ashley. Jeff, Rachel and I are working with lichens from Antartica. The others are working on other projects.
So this blog will be updated as time moves on. Whether or not it is updated with any sort of regularity remains to be seen. Maybe I will even write in español.

Buenos noches!

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Sat, 09 May 2009 19:40:13 GMT

Xanga is neglected. I use facebook. For what? To see what everyone is up to and to waste time. Speaking of wasting time, about a month ago I decided that I spend too much time surfing the Internet and reading the newspaper and that I should stop. I decided that for the rest of the semester I wouldn't read the newspaper (except to glance at the front page) or use the Internet except to check my email, do school-related activities like research, and business (bills, etc). Instead I (mostly) used that time for studying.

The results: it was good, I discovered that I had a lot of time to do stuff, that I didn't need to spend so much time on the Internet.

Now this semester is over, and guess what? I'm back here on this here Internet thing wasting my life. Enough is enough.

In high school, our English teacher told us to "Read, read, read". "Read everything you can get your hands on." It's good advice; it's good to know what is going on the world. However, this was before the Internet was really popular. You can read almost all the articles in a newspaper in about an hour and a half as long as you don't read the ads or the classifieds. This a managable amount of information. It is impossible to read every thing on the Internet. So you have to set limits.

Information. There's a lot of it. You can't know it all and even if you did, most of it is pretty boring anyway (or completely inaccurate).

That's my spiel for today.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:43:27 GMT

Good evening folks. It's been awhile. Well time goes on and we still find ourselves here and now. We are told that someday time will be no more. I don't know what that really means, but our world will stop. The fighting and wars, the doubt and indecision will stop. We will finally face reality.

Until then, this world goes on.

I got my teacher observation placement today: Reynolds Middle School, 8th grade science. It starts next Tuesday morning. I'm a bit nervous.
Superbowl: somebody won; they weren't wearing green jerseys, but it was still good.
Snow is a gift from God. Driving in it is fun with four wheel drive, sorry to all of you who don't have that privilege.

That's all. Good night, folks.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:59:17 GMT

Hello, it's me. Here again. One month ago I said I would update weekly, with four updates between then and tomorrow. It's been two weeks.

Fat lazy people run in circles to win the race of roadside assistance while gas station attendants watch in perpetual stupor and pump gas into large cars full of clowns. Dogs run upside down on the road of life and the manhole covers grow legs and rob donut shops. After the donut shops are fully looted the leftover donuts roll out to the highway and hitchhike to the nearest state line running from the cops, running from life, running from the dread of night. Yet it catches them and they fall into a long dreamless sleep and wish that they could wake up but they never will.

Ok that was (almost) completely random. School starts tomorrow and so I must stop being random and buckle down and be serious.

The Eagles beat the Giants, but you already knew, or you don't care.

In the future I plan to update either weekly, intermittently or never.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:01:40 GMT

I'm writing this xanga update but events conspire against me. The events of the day especially chose to conspire against any semblance of productivity which is sad when you are actually trying to be productive. I could tell you about them, but you would get bored. So I won't.

Other events that conspire against me: its late, my roommate is watching Pirates of the Caribbean, someone left a bag of chocolate covered popcorn at our door and it would be a waste not to enjoy such fine vegetables, if popcorn could be considered a vegetable.

Well let us examine this. An ear of corn is considered a vegetable. So if you shell the kernels off and cook them in water, they are still considered vegetables. If you take the kernels and mix them with other vegetables such as peas, carrots, and lima beans the kernels are still considered corn and still considered vegetables. So if you take certain kernels of corn and heat them in oil until they explode, wouldn't they still be considered vegetables? They contain the exact same ingredients as the pile of corn beside your mashed potatoes on your plate of food (that is if you happen to be eating a plate of food that contains mashed potatoes and a pile of cooked corn; if not just close your eyes and imagine you were, you might want to imagine some sort type of meat on your plate as well (unless you're a vegetarian)). They have been heated, but regular corn is also heated. I believe there is a solid case for considering popcorn as a vegetable. Some people may disagree but until someone can make a good case for the nonvegetablality of popcorn I will consider every serving of popcorn I eat to be a serving of vegetables. So there.

This past week was filled with interesting things. Christmas (of course). A bunch of time spent with good friends and family (and friends that could pass for family). An interesting instance of the Construction Game, during which I acquired a bunch of excavating equipment (or little stickers with pictures of said equipment) and an interesting nickname. But I will not put that nickname on xanga. So there.

Merry Christmas to all of you and may the Lord bless you with a happy and prosperous year (and good night).

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:14:51 GMT

Well a promise is a promise even if I am tired and ready to drop off at any moment.

Football: My relationship to football is somewhat lukewarm. Some people really enjoy playing and watching the sport. I don't think there is anything wrong with that, but have not found that drive within myself. However over the years, I've developed a little bit of fanship for the Philadelphia Eagles mainly because they are the nearest pro football team to my hometown, and most people in this area that I know are Eagles fans. In the past six or seven years they have had quite a few shots at the Superbowl, but always came up short. Anyways last night they pretty much blew their last chance of making the playoffs for this year, much the anger of Eagles fans everywhere. Even Governer Rendell had some words to say about it. Coach Andy Reid looked like he was about to break down and cry during the press conference. The quarterback, McNabb, didn't have a lot to say either, just some ambiguous statements that were probably prepared by PR. He didn't seem to have any spirit or fight left in him. And so it doesn't bode well for the future of my team.

Other stuff:
Blessed are they that do not drink soda, coke, pepsi, or carbonated beverages for they shall drink pop.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after a chicken sandwich, waffle fries, and pop, for they shall be customers of Chic-Fil-A.
Blessed are they whose ancestors got off the wagon train at the halfway point, for they shall be called Midwestern.

...and have a Merry Christmas!!

Story of A Normal Guy

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:33:16 GMT

Once upon a time there was a story about a guy. Now the author of this story wanted to write the story, but had no clue what he wanted to write. So he decide to write a story about this guy. Now this guy had a normal job which really means that though it paid the bills, it was very boring and repetitive. He really wanted to do something different, but wasn't sure what it was. Maybe be an airplane pilot or a dragon-slaying knight or maybe he just wanted to go on a long journey to the ends of the earth where he would climb a mountain in a dark land and fight with a skanky little creature on the brink of a river of flowing lava. He really wasn't sure what he wanted.

And so the guy, who shall be hereafter referred to as Character A, went about his little life doing his boring, repetitive job, living in his little, under-furnished apartment, hanging out at the same old restaurant eating the same old food, and talking with the same old guys, who were Characters B, C and D, about the same old stuff. As much as Character A harbored these hidden dreams of far off lands, he really was contented with his life and though it was a bit bare he never made any serious efforts to leave.

The author on the other hand, had ambitious plans for Character A, but in truth was quite lazy. In fact he was so lazy that he didn't even bother to give Character A a real name other than Character A. He did, as mentioned, have very ambitious plans for Character A which if Character A had been aware of them, he would have been very skeptical of them and would have preferred to stay home and live his rather boring, but contented life.

The author planned to create some sort of catastrophic event in Character A's life. The catastrophic event would be outside of Character A's control and would wrench him from his boring existence and place him on a path where he could only go forward and not backwards, quite similar to being on an escalator with a bunch of baggage and 100 people behind you. That is not to say that the author planned to send Character A to the airport or the mall with bags of stuff to stand on the escalator with 100 people behind him, but he planned to do something catastrophic to Character A so that he could not easily return to his mundane existence. This catastrophic event could be in the form of an outbreak of a deadly virus, or a job offer that would relocate him to a far off place in the world such as Bejing, Antarctica, Peru, or Rutherford, New Jersey. Character A had been to Rutherford, New Jersey once and did not want to go back. In fact, he generally regarded the whole state of New Jersey as a place to be avoided. And so if the author sent him to Rutherford, he would have regarded this event as catastrophic. The other options for catastrophic events that the author considered were magically transporting Character A to another world where he would meet Characters D through Z and fight large, ferocious, semi-intelligent beasts, or having aliens named Characters 1 through 15 abduct Character A and take him throughout the universe in a very large and interesting spaceship, or having a secret branch of the Government recruit him to fight secret forms of evil threatening the country.

All of these events, had they happened to Character A, would have drastically altered his life. He would have met Characters D though Z, 1 through 59, and many others besides. Character E would have been a beautiful girl. Character A might have fallen for Character E on the spot, but probably would have a tough time convincing Character E that she should fall for him. Or perhaps he might not have the guts to even talk with Character E, all the while she wished that he would talk to her. Some of the other Characters, specifically Characters F, G, W, and 2 would become his closest friends and allies, while Characters H, I and 8 would become his enemies. In some scenarios he would become reconciled to his enemies, but in other scenarios they would forever remain his fiercest enemies. In all scenarios Character A would be forced to face things that would alter his outlook on life, and to make decisions that would determine his destiny, the destiny of others, and even his own identity.

The author would lead Character A and some of the others to many places that they never imagined. These places might be the jungles of the Amazon, the urban landscape of modern Bejing, the unexplored regions of a faraway planet, or the mystical realms of another world. Wherever he went, Character A would be forced to face the dangers of the world around him as well as his own fears and doubts. If he were given a task, it would be one that would seem impossible and that would require everything from him, maybe even his own life. If Character A survived until the end of the story, it is possible that he would come home. If he did, Character A would discover that his old life had changed. Maybe Characters B, C and D had moved on, or the old restaurant had been sold and knocked down or he no longer had a job. Or he might discover that everything was just the way he had left it. Whatever the case, Character A would discover that he had changed and could no longer fit into his old life. The author could then either find a creative way to integrate Character A into his old life, thus ending the story, or he could send him out on some new adventure setting the stage for another story.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:22:45 GMT

Hello good people. It's time to write something on xanga again.
First some news (the everyday, mundane, ordinary sort variety):

Life is interesting, so no news is really mundane so there's nothing mundane for me to tell you. Well, ok there might be some mundane ordinary news, but you probably don't want to know. For example, my laundry basket is almost full, so tomorrow I plan to wash some clothes. Another thing, the people upstairs have an overly friendly dog named Nemo. A fat penguin occupies the top of the bookshelf, it's wearing a scarf. Finally the front window of my apartment has horizontal blinds. One would think if a person tilted their head sideways, the blinds would appear to be vertical. However, when I tilt my head, they still appear horizontal. I guess my brain knows my head is sideways and just can't convince itself that the blinds are really vertical. And so the blinds in the window are forever doomed to a mundanely horizontal existance.

Second, some news (the once-in-a-lifetime, extraordinary variety):
Ok, no life-changing, irreversible events really happened. I consider these things to be to be extraodinary: birth, death, dating, marriage, moving to another state/country/planet, having a kid, or anything else that changes your entire outlook on life. None of these happened to me lately.

Third, some news (the in-between variety):
Finals start on Tuesday. I think I will be ready by then, but sadly I didn't put myself into school as much as I should have. After that, I will be officially a junior. On Saturday, Wes, Dave, and I went out to breakfast. There is nothing like yakking with friends over some pancakes and coffee on a Saturday morning. Then Dave brought his gun to my house, and we did some target practice. That was fun.

Starting Friday, I will not have school for about a month. I promise - unless one of the extraordinary things listed above happens to me or the internet crashes - to update weekly for one month, so that's four updates between now and January 12.

Until then, good day.