Chew before you swallow.: October 2010

2010-10-29

Jack-O-Lanterns 2010

Not too long ago, Kevin, Steve, Bob, and I went to Curtis Orchard to go pick our pumpkins for Halloween. Much to my surprise, the patch wasn't as picked-over as it has been in previous years. I think it was last year I had to go deep into the patch to find the potentials for last Halloween. From what I remember, last year, when I went searching for pumpkins, the weather was dark and dreary and cold. During the day! This year was warm and sunny, so it wasn't too treacherous going in the middle of the field.

Anyway, I found two pumpkins for carving, but Kevin only wanted one. I think he just wanted them for festive decoration, but I wanted to carve them into jack-o-lanterns. I begged Kevin to buy the two I picked, and he did. Cut to today I carved them into delightful jack-o-lanterns. I got home from college just before 4pm, and I set to work immediately. One hour later I was done. Since I actually didn't carve any pumpkins last year, one of my goals was to recreate "Frankenstein" from 2008. This year's variation is different, but I think he has character. I like both of my creations.

From jackolantern

Traditional

Frankenstein

Friends forever.....until they get composted.

Pumpkin guts.

Front-step campers.

I hope they have a happy Halloween this year. I had fun carving them.

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2010-10-12

The Test Taken

So I took that Business Calculus test about two hours ago. I think I did fairly satisfactory on it. Of course, like I said yesterday, there is the chance I either did simply OK, or bombed abysmally. There was one problem I knew I got (probably) completely wrong, but I tried to answer it as completely as possible. It was a calculus problem that dealt with efficiency, which means I had to implement the double-prime rule for a function. I managed to get the f'', but I think my implementation of the primes and double-primes was wrong.

I'll find out tomorrow. I don't want to talk about it because I think I'll jinx myself. That seems way too superstitious, but I still feel that way. I hope I did well.

On a side-note: My nervousness got the best of me while I was getting ready for school. I got out of bed at 8:10, and I was on the road by 9:15am to be at school. For some reason, I misinterpreted my watch. As I arrived at school, I thought it was an hour later than it actually was. I first went to my accounting class an hour before it started. The instructor from a different accounting section was like, "What are you doing here?" I was like, "I'm waiting for my class to start." (From my misinterpretation, I thought class was going to start in ten minutes. I also thought this instructor was a substitute.) She told me it was only 10:00am instead of 11:00am. Oops.

I spent the extra hour in the library going over my calculus notes. I hope that extra studying was worth it.

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Lynchpin week

There is a point that falls between success and failure. There is a point that falls between exemplary and banality. There is a point that falls in between happiness and numbness. I've passed through many of those points in my past. I would imagine that I have more in the future that I will (have to?) pass through before I die. There are lynchpin points everywhere -- I don't know when they are approaching, but I certainly know when they have passed me. The trick in trying to zero-in on those metaphysical loci is attempting to figure out when they are approaching.

Naturally, this is a college update. I feel one of those lynchpin points coming. I would like to pass through it with a modicum of success, but I honestly don't know. This week I have two important tests and I am seriously freaking out about whether I will be successful or not. Tomorrow I have a major test in my Business Calculus class, and there is the possibility I could do relatively fine on it, or I could completely and utterly bomb the test and get a horrible score. If I did get a bad score, I honestly don't see the logic in staying in the class considering the class grade is determined by only four tests, plus the final. Oh yeah, I bombed the first test! Amazing! This class is so critical that if anything else goes wrong (besides the first test) I can just kiss my college schedule good-bye. Which would mean I could just forget about exiting Parkland College by 2011...which would mean I couldn't enroll into the U of I next year. So on and so forth.

Kevin let me know that he won't take care of me forever. I wouldn't allow him to do so. I'm just so sick and tired of being taken care of. I want to feel like an adult. I want to be an adult, but I've often thought that if I haven't learned how to be a grown-ass man by now, I never will.

Again, I wouldn't be worrying to the n^th degree if I actually had a sense of maturity to study more, like I should have. [Shouldacouldawoulda] I sometimes think there is an alternate universe in which I'm relatively happy and successful, instead of a 31-year-old boy who has to be taken care of just for his survival.

I wonder what it is like to be, and feel, self-sufficient.

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2010-10-05

The Praying Mantis Adventure 2010

This morning I was drinking my coffee when I peered outside and saw a huge praying mantis on Trent's house. Naturally, I had to get pictures. Even from looking at the bug from across the driveway, I could see it was damn huge!

As I approached the insect, I got a bit...scared. I mean, I've seen praying mantises before, but none were as big as this one. I would estimate she was the length of my hand! Plus...she had wings. Insect wings freak me out to the n^th degree. But I persevered.

I approached the praying mantis and got a few good pictures. I then tried to coax her into my hand, but I guess I annoyed her because she flew away. She flew away over my head! That scared the shit out of me. I mean, I closed my eyes and protected my head with my hands. I'll bet I looked really silly (over)reacting like I did over a harmless, albeit huge, insect.

The few pictures I managed to take came out sufficiently well.