Winter

It beckons, it eludes, and I yearn it still.  Why won't it snow?  Consistently?  I had only a 2-hour display of snow before the flurries receded back to the wet, rainy Fall climate.

A one-day-only spectacle

Well, it's now Winter break and I'm near-death from boredom.  I've gotten some of my grades back (this soon!) and I have already one let-down.  I got a B for Philosophy 230 when I was on course for an A-.  That's two grades apart and I bombed my finals with a 19/30.  Thoroughly disappointed with myself.  On the bright side, the other result I had received was my Microbiology 302 Lab.  I got an A with a perfect score for my "Identifying Unknowns" experiment.  To add the icing on it, I was the only one in my section to achieve this feat, and although my final grade of 179/200 wasn't a standout in my section, I still had a good performance overall to merit the A grade.  At least some of my efforts paid off.

Oddly, I am rather bummed out that the semester has ended.  I had tons of fun in (most of the) classes and working with the International Students Council was a great experience.  Next semester will be a whole different story as I'll be taking more credits as well as having a lot more responsibilities, in addition to the much-maligned Recycling Chair position I hold in my dorm.  Idiots can't tell glass from plastic...

Next sem I'll be taking tougher courses like General Physics II (of which I've almost nil of familiarity with) and Microbiology 374, which is on Insect and Plant Pathology (I think that's what it is called).  Moreover, I intend to rejoin ISC for another bout of stress-sessions as VEISHEA (it's a parade, and the biggest thing to happen in ISU every year) will be a blast.  Moreover, I want to be more involved with the Microbiology club as they get to make their own root beer for VEISHEA!  My favorite soft drink (or "pop" as they call it here).  I'm not done yet: I'll be a Teaching Assistant for Micro 302L (say hello to goofing around with microbes) and will be a Research Assistant for a fellow Malaysian graduate student here in ISU.  I may just bunker in my room all day.

I've even made some plans for Winter break.  Four friends and I will be taking a roadtrip from Iowa all the way down to Orlando, Florida to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios.  Yes, the Magical Kingdom and Harry Potter can only equate to a "WIN" in my books.  As we're driving, we'll be stopping at each state along the way.  I've attached a map for some reference.

*Iowa is in the Midwest of The States, by the way*

We'll be heading southwards to St. Louis first (Missouri) and will spend a night there.  The next day, we're heading Southeast to Nashville, Tennessee and again, we're bunking over for a night there.  Our next destination is Atlanta, Georgia, which is the state below Tennessee, before reaching Orlando, in Florida.  Of course, we're going to sight-see and I wanted soooooo badly to visit the Center of Disease Control (CDC) at Atlanta as it holds the only sample of the deadliest diseases such as smallpox and the Spanish flu.  Sadly, the group got weirded out and decided to visit the Georgia Aquarium instead, which is the largest aquarium in the world, apparently.  December 31st is our departure date and the trip will be a week long.  It is gonna be awesome!

Speaking of plans, I've already made a couple of them for next Fall as well.  From my Micro 302L class, I was given notes on how to ferment your own wine.  Because I have to let it age for at least 6 months in a stationary location, I can only start the project once I move out of my dorm and settle elsewhere.  So if I ever die from this experiment (touch wood), you'll be glad to know that I did it in the name of Science.  Also, I'll be relearning Chinese as it's something I need to do.  Laugh all you want but I'm not gonna care.  This is what I want, and what my grandfather wants.  And I have to honor his wish.

That's it for now.  Time to start reading some books and watching my TV series!  Tata for now.

Ghost - The Preachers