OK, read away This is

OK, read away

This is going to be a long post, I just know it, so I’m going to put it in sections.

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Flame to ashes, ashes to flesh he is reborn like the phoenix. I'm back to instill my mind upon the masses and wreak havoc on all before me. It's a new quarter here on campus, spring quarter in fact, and I've made some "new years resolutions" minus the New Year.

1) Study more 2) Do my homework even if it is not collected. 3) Work out more often (warm weather means I have no excuse) 4) Eat healthier 5) Build my resume before May; meet with co-op advisor before summer 6) Update more 7) Keep in touch with everyone

I realize this last one is the most important. Over spring break my oldest brother told me that the youngest one had said to him "Mr. Curtis knows more about John than I do." That's a scary thought. It isn't true, but still for him to say that sucks. This all took place when my family (sans me) met in New Jersey the weekend before my spring break where my sister supposedly revealed her new boy friend (Pete). I think it was also Joanna who said to me that nobody hears anything from me anymore. Even people in my dorm I don't talk to nearly as much as I should. So in summary, it's time to spread the John love.

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I had three finals and one "project." The project was a poster fair for my engineering design and communication class. Essentially, we were given the task of making a sandwich holder for someone with hands but no hand use. The client wanted something that attached to the arm and was lightweight, easy to take around, and what we ended up with was something that attached to the table, was heavy, bulky, and embarrassing. My group won a prize! Yay resume lines.

My chemistry final came first, and I didn't really study. I ended up playing Ninja Gaiden instead, one of the best new games on the Xbox right now. I got a 106/200. Nice, huh? The average was a 116, and the class is curved to the median and somehow I pulled off a B.

Then came the Engineering Analysis 2 final (basically the class is Albright’s FBD (Free Body Diagram) class only in 3d, with some linear deformation and finite analysis. I got a 48.5/60 on the final going into it thinking I was completely ready and one problem just stumped me completely. hence minus 10. No matter, the average was a 45 and I got an A in the class! yay.

Math 215 (multivariable integration) was last. On the first midterm, I got a 53 thinking I’d rocked that shit to pieces. Guess not. The average was a 62. Ouch. C-. The second midterm I got a 42, the average was a 45, but the prof decides to curve to a 50 anyway. Ouch, another C-. the final? i dunno, i didn't get my test score back, but I did fucking awesome was all I remember thinking and I ended up with a B in the class. So rawk out.

Immediately after that test (which ended Wednesday night the 17th at 9pm) I called Grant and helped him park his car at my dorm. We spent a while looking for my keys when they ended up just being in my desk at home (and we walked all of campus looking for them on sidewalks I had walked on). Then we walked the opposite ends of campus AGAIN to get free pizza at the fraternity house. Oh, and there was good, free cake too. Then Grant and I just chilled out in my room talking to Kyle.

All of a sudden, my idle monitor flickers on and goes to the Dell boot screen followed by "Hard disk read error, press alt-ctrl-del to reset." That blew, I spent all the next day trying to recover files but couldn't and finally gave up and called Dell for a new hard drive. Grant, Teresa, Stacy (tjue's roomie) and I all went to Norris for lunch, which was good. Grant left later on and that night I went to the keg and then did laundry from late (12 or 1) until 5AM. At 5:02, I set my alarm for 5:15 planning on getting up, showering, and packing so I could leave by 6:15. Well, all of a sudden I wake up and it is 5:45, not 5:15, I dont' even remember any alarm, and I'm ready by 6:20 out the door.

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I catch an early flight to Baltimore because I was at the airport some 2 hours earlier than I planned on it (it was the only way to get a ride). I sleep no more than 15 minutes on the plane and 15 more in the airport on a random bench. In all, I think I got an hour of sleep if you count the night before. That night my brother and I meet my sister at DuPont Circle for sushi, which was amazing, and then we go meet Emily's boyfriend Pete (Joe had already met him). He was ... very New York. And very male. Definitely a guy I wouldn't mind hanging out with, but not possibly the type of person I'd like dating my sister (a little bit of a pig head, let's just say). He'd say things about Jews, and Catholics alike, and curse all the time, call anybody and everyone a "mother fucker" in both good and bad contexts, just overall ... he needs manners.

Saturday I spent in Cleveland Park, getting pizza with my brother and his roommate and then watching the Nevada game over a few beers at the "Brick Oven." Later I left to go visit Marc at Georgetown University where we first got sandwiches with his friend Kavitha, then ice cream, then we all chilled to Jack and Ginger, Jack and Coke, and Vodka (Finlandia) and Orange and Cranberry juices. A really fun time, we were up late just discussing the differences of Gtown and Northwestern, Louisville and Lexington, and others.

Next day was chilled out at my brother's apartment watching Sopranos and the premiere of Deadwood. Monday I spent farting around and borrowing my brother's car trying to find a charger for my phone that later broke. Tuesday I went sightseeing all around DC, I walked from the Smithsonian to the Washington monument to the Jefferson memorial (gotta love TJ) to the FDR to the Lincoln, to the Vietnam, to the Washington again, to the capital building and back to the Smithsonian. It was five hours of walking and only 3 rolls of film, but a blast in all. I was beat. Wednesday I spent the morning going to Best Buy again to get yet another charger, then went to UVa to visit Paul and Jon.

Show up, and Jon and I have to go to one of his film classes to watch "Paths of Glory" an old Kubrick flick. Pretty good, and it really makes you hate the french. Then we meet up with PBass who definitely has long hair, and we go to this place called "Coupe Deville’s" or something like that, only they just call it "Coupes" ('coops'). There we get steak dinners for 5.50 or something like that ridiculously cheap, and only decent quality.

Buttt, Coupes is a Fiji hang out and all their brothers were there drinking away and when the waitress comes Paul orders a Coke and then the girl says "Just so you know, we have Miller Lights for only 75 cents" and Paul says "ok, I'll switch to that." What happens? She asks for an ID and turns to Jonathon, but I immediately say "I'm just going to have a Diet Coke, thank you" while Paul has to turn to Jonathon and say "Are we gonna go to that thing later?" while jonathon is thinking "Paul what the fuck are you doing/talking about" and Paul turns to the waitress and says "You know what I'm not going to drink yet tonight." Unsmooth :-p But funny, and you gotta admire his will to try.

We then get ice cream, and later chill out in Pual's dorm. Jonathon leaves, Paul and I play caps, which I found out nobody but kids at Northwestern know how to play such an amazing and incredible game as caps, but anyway, Paul the newbie is beating me like 6-1 and I come back to lose something like 8-6. It was awesome. Next morning Paul and I get sandwiches and chill out sitting on the back of my car while we watch all the really really hot Virginia girls walk by. Man northwestern sucks in that respect. But supposedly Paul and Jon know a collective 4 girls together, so at least I got that on them. But then that morning Paul ends an argument he and I are having with "Whatever dude, we've got hot girls and you don't" and I had to give to that.

On the drive back, I get a speeding ticket for doing 73 in a 55, when I was totally trying to keep it under 70 and I just happened to go over a hill and pick up speed. The car in front of me was going like 80, so I thought the whole time I had nothing to worry about and the cop said he clocked him at 55. BULLSHIT! so that's a 144 dollars i gotta pay.

That night I went to Hopkins, got off at the wrong MARC Train stop, and had to pay 20 dollars for a cap from BWI to JHU instead of the proper 6 dollar cap ride from Penn Station to JHU. Bah! Then we eat at Donna's, which was decent, and then we went to Sigma Phi Hair Salon's game night. That was ok, not very crowded so I liked it, but the hopkin's kids didn't like it. I guess they like the super crowded drunken orgy's. Anyway, chill out there, I buy people some beer, and myself, then we head back to the dorms and such, move from rooms to rooms, I meet like everybody and everyone, and then somehow by the end of the night (I'm throwing out unnecessary details) I end up alone with Emma and this one guy. It was total third wheelage, which I didn't realize till halfway through that portion of the evening, but ... oh well.

Next day we get burritos, I head back to DC to meet the siblings for dinner and they end up just wanting to go to a bar with Pete. I get kinda pissed, my brother could tell. I was pissed because that was twice I was promised something, and we just ended up on the way to a bar instead. I decide not to join them, and I take off to Gtown to chill with Marc again. Pretty much the same thing as the first visit just sans Kavitha. Oh, and more Dan ;). And his gay lover. Oh, and I met some girl that was best friends with a girl in my dorm, but I didn't know this when i met her. It wasn't till AFTER I met her that I find out this girl went to the same school as my friend, and when I got back on campus found out they were fantastic friends.

Other than that, Saturday was just chill and Sunday I left.

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My new schedule for this quarter is cool, i've got

1) Engineering Analysis 4 (Differential Equations) 2) Introduction to Computer Engineering 3) Engineering Analysis 3 (System Dynamics) 4) Engineering Design and Communication

I find out going to these classes that while all but EDC are scheduled for everyday, that in fact none of them will meet on Thursdays and EA-3 will not meet on Fridays either. Oh, and I'll only have one final, on the last day of finals week (doh!).

I got a new DVD+RW for my laptop because the other one broke. The old one was a 2x. The new one is a 4x. Hell yes I love Dell. That's a pretty substantial increase, especially when you're talking about the kind of data transfers that DVD drives do. I also bought a new battery for my digital camera, I'm going to have to get that thing working again. Or else it's another poor investment.

Tomorrow night I see Pretty Girls Make Graves, one of my new favorite bands. It's a female singer kinda angry and sad but good. The roomie introduced me. I bought their newest, The New Romance which I totally recommend. I'll probably have it ripped soon, too.

I also have the new Modest Mouse CD, which my brother told me was incredible, and so far being one track shy of halfway, I'd have to agree. Supposedly they actually had a real producer or something, I dunno the full story, but they actually ... i guess tried on this CD. It's good. OK, i finished it yesterday when I decided to write the Randomness section before the Spring Break section. I wrote the SB section today. But yes, this modest mouse Cd is AWESOME. very very good.

That's all folks.
John