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Finals begin at the end of this week. I am thus far studying anything I have time for, which so far has been about everything. I ’tis very much looking forward to my first semester’s gauntlet run.

Last night was our APEX pre-Christmas hullabaloo. We met at Mike’s house for pizza and games. We played Encore, a most brilliant game for musical people. The males won. Then we discussed the whatnot and such. It was some good times.

Today was simply the finalization of my Comm and Honors Vector Geo classes. I got my latest test back in Vector Geo. I was very pleased with my score and I think it reflected the extra effort I put in to intense studying and understanding of the material for that test. Although, I’m not performing as well as the other Honors geniuses in that class, I was happy with the results I earned. End of story.

I am waiting passionately for The Return Of The King. What a great way to end exams!

Raising awareness for Wheat.

Busy weekend. Busy week ahead. ::pause:: Yeah. ::pause::

Friday’s movies included Amelie and Psycho. Saturday’s movies included Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Life Is Beautiful. If ever there was a way to cram such a broad mixture of some of the best movies of all time into a short period of time, well then ever there was this weekend.

Amelie is amazing. Simply phenominal. I love foreign films, I do I do I dooo. The plot to this movie is universally catching and very humorous. Cinematically, I was impressed with the thought put into each shot and how the director accessorized each scene wonderfully. Oh I loves! I wants me this on DVD!

Psycho is fun. My first Hitchcock film, I do believe. Psycho isn’t incredibly scary, but it is thrilling and suspenseful. I was semi-unhappy with the ending and the mediocre plot twist, but regardless I enjoyed it very much. I think I should see more scary movies.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 was once again astounding and vigorously violent. A group from Abigail’s suite saw this one and I tagged along in step. Several people commented on how incredibly violent the film is, as did I after I saw it the first time. However this isn’t a violence equivalent to war movies, this is a predictable and oddly humorous violence. Good movie.

Life Is Beautiful is more than enthralling. I’ve seen many Holocaust films, but this just pales the comparisons. The title itself is so deep and layered that I could ponder its hidden suggestions for sleepless weeks. Without divulging into my innermost feelings about the film with words aplenty, I’ll just comment that I want this one on DVD too.

Then I remember than in 10 years DVDs will be obsolete. Maybe I’ll just memorize the lines to all my favorite films, at least that way I’d get a head start on learning French, Japanese, and Italian.

So today begins the truly hard-core study patterns that will continue until finals are over. I am willing to brutalize my mind for an end that will justify all means. The end justifies the means. That’s right.

It’s hard to blog when you’re hungry, tired, and exhausted. ’tis.

First snow of the year. Six inches in the morning and ice the rest of the day. That was yesterday. Tonight they are calling for another stampede of white glossy fun.

School news: yet another Honors Vector Geo test. I studied until I became incoherent and delusional. I thought I did pretty well, but I won’t know until next Tues. Defered gratification of sorts.

Immediately post-test, I hopped aboard the Two Town post-haste and public transportation-ed my way to the Target area. It was snowing fairly rapidly at this time, but not cruelly. So I went to Target and got some gloves and a hat and then headed over to B&N for a Peppermint Mocha. By the time I left B&N, my original tracks through the snow were completely gone. Needless to say, the weather had turned for a final blow before it would plateau. So I get back to the bus stop 5 minutes before it is supposed to shop up. I’m holding my umbrella to shield me from the intense wind and snow and my other hand contains what is left of my Mocha. I’m wearing my backpack with my math text and my Vector notebook, along with my purchase from Target. The bus doesn’t show up on time. The bus doesn’t show up 10 minutes late. The bus doesn’t show up 20 minutes late. The bus shows up 25 minutes late. I nearly couldn’t move by this point. I just collapse into a seat and wait forever before we go anywhere at a purely lethargic pace. It takes about 40 minutes to get back to Tech. Cars were all over the road from my view on the bus. We crept along patiently enough to pack the snow down for those to the rear. Anyways, it was an exciting and adventurous trip that I took. Despite the discomfort, I enjoyed it as a whole.

Then I rested up after getting back and then went with Abigail’s suite to the ’snowball fight’ on the drillfield. The fuzz didn’t mind, as long as we weren’t wreaking havoc or blocking traffic. So it was exciting…and cold….and wet. And fun. Very fun. Then we all went back for hot chocolate and Catch Phrase.

These are the good times you blog about.

Christmas is sooo close. And I’m sooo not done my shopping. End of story.

Backing up to yesterday afternoon. We watched the beginning of an A&E documentary on death after an unabbreviated lesson on how to not use a VCR. Interestingly enough, our professor is in this documentary as one of the few scholars the video reports to for commentary and insight. I guess my mind never threw together the possibility that any of my professors may actually have some prominence. Oh well, it was a slight shock for all of us.

Thens todays I was ins my Comms class We came across two very notable topics that greatly intrigued me (side note: stupid budget cuts that killed my minor!!). The first was about the consolidation of the media industries as computer-related technology begins to throw them into the same piles [of binary code] (in other words, to a computer a book is no different than a film, they are both 0’s and 1’s although admittedly in dissimilar formats). So anyways, I was once again reminded of the many conglomerates that have attempted to truly consolidate media in all its forms (the former AOLTimeWarner, AOL encompassing the internet and computers, Time having magazines and publications, and Warner owning a huge portion of the film industry as well as a large cable provider). Not to forget Microsoft’s DotNet that, once mass-accepted, will completely monopolize all communication of any type. So that was not very comforting.

The next portion of the lecture that conquered my attention was about the internet and how it is changing communication period. Of course there are many types of communication but two main types are interpersonal (one on one) and mass communication (implementing media). So my professor asks regarding a person’s blog that he randomly searched for through Google, “is this is photo album [or diary] or a t.v. show?” That really made me think how the internet has completely reformatted our views of interpersonal communication. Instead of meeting up at a Starbucks, two people can chat online (even iChat AV) all night with apparently just the same enjoyment as in real life. And this has only been truly activating itself in the last decade. It makes me wonder what life will be like 20, 30 years from now when there will then exist a generation of people who are aware of such technology as an absolute rather than convenience. So thus I was intrigued.

And it’s cold here, rather cold. The weather forecasters forecast wintry precipitation for Wed night through the weekend. This is my woohoo.