Emily Lam

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Monday, October 25, 2010

Why is writing such a difficult task?!

I don't know.

But here's a quick blog before I have to attend a Chem Review session and study intensely afterwards until 12AM for my 8AM Chem exam tomorrow morning. *Deep Breath In . . . And Out*

So, today, my second draft for my second paper in WR 100 was due.

I've been working on this essay for the longest time. And for some reason, I refuse to bullshit it. Granted, it still ended up crap; it was effort crap though. I am just such an incapable writer that I focus for long hours to write just one ehhh paragraph. My first draft was a MESS! Fortunately, after attending writing conferences (two of them!) with my professor, I was able to semi sort out my ideas. It turned out that I started out writing about the double in Dr. Jekyll but ended out writing about hypocrisy in Dr. Jekyll. You can say I was directionless. (. . . that kind of describes all attributes of my life.) Yeah . .  But the essay I think will be one of my better essays to date, if I can finish it correctly that is. It still needs A LOT of work!

Oh yeah! I wrote the following during small breaks as I was finishing the second draft this morning:

     Waking up early to write this essay.

     Distracted by Tswift.

     My professor is right! I'm sick of this essay. I can't look at it coherently anymore.

     It's just a blurrr.

     Such a blur that I can't even read it after the second draft is finished.

Yeah. . . the above is not that coherent but its interesting. =]

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Biking On Comm Ave!

Biking in boston is definitely a different experience than what I'm use to. First and foremost, you have to constantly be watching out for cars. Cars just zoom by; it's actually a very annoying fact. I'm particularly annoyed when they are speeding on Commonwealth Ave (Comm. Ave) and/or beeping. It is a college campus, there's going to be students slowing you down and if you're in a rush, take storrow drive or some other street. I haven't witnessed someone getting hit by a car but somebody did get hit recently on campus, Comm. Ave to be specific. I remember  I was biking toward Warren Towers and when I heard sirens and yielded to a police car, I thought ignorantly, what know, as if police cars put on sirens for no reason. I felt really bad afterwards. Supposedly, there was enough blood from the accident to stain the road to the point that they had to cover it up with sand of some sort. I know, scary stuff. That incident put things into perspective. Since sirens are so common in Boston, I sometimes forget that each and everyone of those sirens could mean the difference between life and death. Hopefully, most of the sirens are to false alarms.

On a brighter note, they are redoing the roads on Comm. Ave, so I will have nice roads to bike on when going from one class to the next. Comm. Ave is interesting to bike on. See, Comm Ave. is like a Cosine graph (I know, it's a really mathematical comparison, but it's true.) You have to struggle up the hills but once you're up, you sail down effortlessly until you reach the next hill. Weather also effects the bike ride. Riding uphill against the wind is so difficult. The wind also blows my hair into my face but that hasn't been a problem since I bought a helmet (I can't believe my RA convinced me to get one). Rain is also bad, not so much the getting wet part but the part where dirty rain water is splashed on you. I find myself trying to bike as close to the sidewalk as possible, sometimes even on the sidewalk, to prevent getting splashed by cars, holding my legs parallel to the ground, and slowing down when going through a puddle, and sometimes not biking altogether when it rains. Snow will probably impact the ride but I haven't experienced that yet. The good thing about living at Warren Towers is that when snow does hit, my bike will be safe in the garage. =]

Biking I feel is so much nicer than walking, driving, taking the t, flying (as in a passenger on a plane. Flying a plane is a different story), and other methods of transportation. I grew up with a bike and am SO glad I get to bike a lot more in college. I also get into awesome predicaments on a bike (Oh T). ; ] So if you own a bike, use it! And if you don't own one; get one, even if it's a used one at a yard sale, and start experiencing the freedom of a bike!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Update On My Classes

My classes from least favorite to most favorite:

ENG EK 131 Gateway To Electric Guitar (Part one of Intro to Engineering)
This class just becomes more wearisome with each passing class. But at least it's not as much work as my friend's EK 131 class and this wednesday is the last class! Yaaay . . . not really since EK 132 starts immediately after. Tomorrow, I will be finishing my Hank Drum for the class. Hopefully, it will work! Here's a youtube link of a Hank Drum since I never really described or provided info about it. Click! Yup, that's what I'll try to tune tomorrow. And then my class will be doing a parody/spoof of the song "One Week" by Bare Naked Ladies with instruments and equipment we've made. That will be interesting.

CAS CH 131 Principles of General Chemistry
There's not much to say except that I need to start putting in more effort. I am doing average in this class and it's totally my fault. I do want to do better; so game plan for tomorrow's class: bring my textbook and catch up on the reading instead of sleeping in class. I probably should catch up on homework too but thats something to work on in the afternoon/night. Labs on the other hand are going well.

CAS MA 124 Calculus II
This class is going well and normal. I am learning, doing homework, and doing well. So far we have not covered any material I have not covered in AP Calculus. I wonder how much harder it will become once we hit stuff I have never seen before. Hmm. . .

CAS WR 100 Writing Seminar
My favorite class this semester is Writing 100! W00! I think I just got lucky and have an interesting topic, Fantasy At The Fin De Siècle, and a great professor, she's very helpful and knowledgable of the topic. Currently, my writing is at a very subpar level but hopefully it will get better. Tonight, I shall try to keep up with the reading. I also have an essay to revise, but I don't have time for that tonight.

Well there it is, brief info on where I stand in my classes.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Day Before Yesterday

Much Delayed Post: Written on Friday, Posted Today, When it should have been done all on Wednesday.

The day before yesterday Devon and I had a mission: Get Boston Symphony Orchestra tickets. That took us all about 30 seconds not including the the subway ride there. So why did I not get home 'til 6ish when I left 4ish.

Well, I stumbled upon a fountain, a reflecting pool of water, northeastern (graduate studies education building, I believe), The First Church of Christ, Scientist, the Prudential Center, the apple store, newbury street, and more. All those places coupled with finding the UPS man, walking back from where ever we were, and just positive attitues turned it into a wonderful day. It was a great adventure.


So here's some pictures of the day:


This is of the a fountain, we came across. Looks pretty spectacular, if I say so myself?


This is inside the Prudential. Looks abstract but it's not. It's just water falling down a wall.


My Personal favorite: The inside of the three story Apple Store. I like how you can see our converses; It makes the picture.


Came across this on the walk back. It was nostalgic. I can only imagine the little child, who went to the park with her parents, drawing that and pleading her parents to hopscotch with her.


Since I posted this so late, I can include a brief description of today, technically yesterday now. . . It was tiring! I went to sleep at 1ish, maybe 2ish, woke up at 10:30 and went full blast until 11:30. I'm exhausted! But had so much fun at the Museum of Science, mexican food place, prudential, BSO (Boston Symphony Orchestra), and even the T. Oh good times!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Sitting Idly In Class

I'm in my EK 131 class, Gateway to Electric Guitar, right now and watching a movie about the connection between science and music; right now, in the movie, the fetus is reacting to the singing of Mary Had A Little Lamb (I personally quite like that song). Yup, I'm half watching the movie. It's actually a great listen though.

Anyways, today would be a day I deemed to be more productive than normal. I had a very helpful meeting with my writing professor, dropped off my helium tank for cutting, and received a pleasing grade in my calculus class. I should mention that no I am not making a dangerous weapon with the helium tank but rather a Hank drum, let's see how that works out.

Plans left for today: picking up free tickets to Boston Symphony Orchestra  (Will be doing that tomorrow), fixing my Charlie Card for the T that refuses to accept the money I deposited online onto it's balance, and normal everyday activities: dinner, homework, procrastination, etc.

Sorry, there is not much thought in this post, but my brain is tired and I much rather save whatever brain power left in my brain for the writing essay I have to write tonight. Adios! =]

Joining the Bloggers

Well, here it is: My own personal blog. I guess this will be a place where I will be organizing my thoughts to the world wide web. I still need to finish designing the blog and figuring how everything works. But this site does seem more promising than the last I tried. Ideally, I would like to post once a day, but who knows, I might get excited and post twice or more a day, or super busy and post once a week.

I feel I will fall asleep and not finish this post if i do not post now. So good night and see you in the late AM, the flip side.