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Well so much has happened since I last updated my journal. And I had some time, so I figured it was fitting to post now before I completely am swamped with school work when classes start. I guess I'll start from the beginning and just start telling people about college so far in general. It's great. I moved in a week ago now, into the same room I ended up staying in, but at the time it was unsure whether or not I would stay. So I lived out of boxes for five days and then unpacked when I decided to stay in this room. I had a single for several days because nobody had filled the slot during the summer lottery, but after rex, there were actually 2 people REALLY interested in the spot, so now I have 2 more roommates instead of just the one. The room is fairly good sized though, so having a triple is not really a big deal. We have a lot of furniture, but having a lot of floorspace was important to all of us, so we only have 2 wardrobes and 2 bookshelves so that helps a lot. We need a sizable rug to cover all the tile. I don't like that about it. And we looked at large rugs online, the cheapest of which we could find for $300 so it wasn't very good. So we might get a smaller one that fills up a little less space, but is more reasonable. Apparently at Target there are good ones. So anyway, Orientation was pretty good. The worst part is finding your way around because campus is so incredibly big. And I'm probably going to get lost in Boston at some point in the next year. But that's okay I suppose. I basically skipped a lot of the orientation activities. We French house froshlings thought that they looked boring, so we decided that we'd skip them. All that "no drinking" and "make good choices" stuff that's common sense anyway. My O leader was sort of mad at me that I skipped things, but whatever. I went to all the mandatory things and everything that I thought or people told me that I'd find useful. It was good. So French House people are really nice. Everyone's so outgoing and easy to talk to. There's a really cute sophomore who I sort of have a crush on, but he's gay, so I was sad. But we can still be friends. Oh, that reminds me of this guy that was in my orientation group named Keldin who is kind of cute, and we talked for a while and he's really nice. I think he may like me since he said he was sad I missed on of the orientation events and at the activities fair he brought me food. So idk, we'll see what happens. Apparently the upperclassmen have the unofficial "November Rule" which states that upperclassmen can't date the frosh until November. But this kid is a freshman too, so I think this doesn't count. So hmmmmmmmm, what else is there to say? I know there is a bunch. So fraternities and sororities are doing rush events this weekend, so I don't have much to do since I don't want to be in one. I'm going to go see how the laundry room works tomorrow. Well I'm gonna go. I might update more tomorrow... we'll see. Love ya guys! :)Current Mood:  geeky |
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OMG IT WAS THE BEST ONE YET. Absolutely my favorite. The midnight release at walden books was fun... spent the weekend reading it, finished last night at 2:30 AM. Twas fantastic! Read it... |
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Jul. 8th, 2007 @ 06:55 pm
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I passed my Freshman Essay Evaluation! Although, apparently, I still need to work on organization of my essays, but oh well! I still passed! Hurray! |
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Omg graduation is tomorrow. I'm ridiculously excited, but also ridiculously nervous about my speech. I'll probably stumble on a word or two. Whatever. We get our caps and gowns in a couple hours at rehearsal. OMG. Amy and I get to walk in side by side as the leaders of the whole class. We watch everyone file in. That's when it set in, at practice on Tuesday. I am still in the process of having the idea sink in. I realize now that we're leaving the school and not coming back next year, and for this I'm excited. But the fact that I won't see my friends everyday has not set in. They are such a permanent fixture in my life, I don't know what I'm going to do without them for so long. That part is not going to really sink in until the camping trip in August, which will be our last time together, really before college. That's gonna be an amazing trip, although sad when it's over. I love you guys! For now, I'm just going to relish in the idea of graduation itself, project graduation, and about 6 or 7 graduation parties within the next two weeks.
HOLY CRAP I'M GONNA BE A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE! I'M AN ADULT! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN? I CAN'T REMEMBER! OMG!!!!!Current Mood:  ridiculously excited |
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Help!
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May. 31st, 2007 @ 08:19 pm
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Writing speeches is so hard! Especially when it's such an important speech. Mine is going to be the first speech at graduation (I think)... It's gotta be good. It's gotta set the tone. What if it bombs? I'm trying to make it interesting to listen to. I know I wouldn't pay much attention to a person's speech unless they made it funny, so that's what I'm trying to do. I was thinking that maybe I should end it with "May you live long and prosper!" But I don't know. I don't really watch star trek, but I think that's an amusing way to end it. Is it? You like? I need help thinking of funny random anecdotes too. Like funny things that happened during school. I need ideas!!! Help!Current Mood:  thoughtful |
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I just got a package from MIT. Like the second page I read says that I can be excused from their freshman English exam if I get a 5 on the AP English. WTF? When I looked online it said that you could only get credit for a 5 on Calc BC or a 5 on Physics B and C. Now they're telling me today that I could be exempt from this? It's the worst timing ever! If I had read this letter 8 hours ago, I would have been able to take the test! I could have been exempt! Not fair! *pouts* So I went back to the website that had the AP credit listings. Again I find the same thing. However, looking closer, I find that the next paragraph has a link to a different list. It adds a bunch of things, such as this English thing. I could have gotten general elective credit too. Darn! I wish I had known this!
The one plus I've discovered is that by taking AB Calc, I can be placed in a higher level Calc if I get a 4 or 5. So let's just hope that the rest of the country bombed as bad as I did so I can get at least a 4. I sort of doubt it after how bad I did on the free response though. |
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Apr. 29th, 2007 @ 04:36 pm
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YEAH RED SOX! They rock. And this lappy looks awfully sexy...
It's that big red one!
OoOoOo... I want to buy it. But my mom says we can't get it until july because that's as soon as we can get the money. :(
But I like it! |
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Should I get a PC or a Mac for college? I know that Windows is more widely compatible with games and engineering software that I'll be using, but Mac now has boot camp so I can run windows programs on it. The only thing is that I'd need to also buy vista for it too. (Unless I just continue with XP from my home computer) I'm so used to windows. But everyone I've heard who uses a Mac loves it.
What does everyone else recommend? |
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I don't really know what to say, but I wanted to update.
Well, nationals was really fun. I met a bunch of people. I just wish I had gotten to know them in previous years so I could come back as a student to hang out with them. I'm really sad that I'm not going to be a student on a robotics team anymore. I am officially done with it.
So basically this is like the most awesome weather ever for April vacation, and it feels like summer vacation, so I'm kind of pissed that I'm sitting inside typing a paper on Voltaire's Candide (or, at least procrastinating from writing the paper). I want high school to be over!
I'm officially going to MIT, so you guys don't have to listen to me rant about how I don't know where to go anymore.
Nicole's sleepover was fun... I met her photographer Kirk, who is like the most awesome guy in the world. I can't believe he's straight. And when we went to his job to bring him coffee, some guy named brian saw me and thought I was cute apparently, so that should be interesting. He's 23, and a computer nerd.
So that's about all I have to say for now, if I think of anything else to say, I'll post it.Current Mood:  blah |
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Apr. 1st, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
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So last night Auntie Jeni and her new boyfriend came to visit. They went to UTC a few weeks ago to see the robot competition because John is a chemical engineer and he thought it would be fun. But I really didn't get to talk to them like at all because competitions are so hectic and I'm constantly doing things for the team. So last night I really got to meet him, and he's really cool! I really hope they get married, because he'd make an awesome uncle. He was playing with my Vex robot kit and thought it was cool. He wants to get one for himself. And he was giving me all sorts of advice for college. He thinks I should go to UConn. He went to URI and is now doing just as well as any other college grad. The thing is I didn't like UConn very much. The class sizes were huge, the food wasn't that great, etc... But omg how come I can't decide. Some people can just go to a college and look at it and say, "This is the place I want to be." I'm just so distraught about choosing a college. What if I choose the wrong one? I know, people will say, there is no wrong choice, and if you don't like it you can transfer, but I want to pick the right one the first time. I'm afraid that anywhere I go, I'm going to think to myself, what if I had gone somewhere else? Would I have gotten a better education?
Sorry, I've been annoying people with that for the past two months now I'll stop talking about college.
So John was also trying to convince my parents to let me have a drink. His view was that if I know what it's like and how it affects me before I get to college, I'm less likely to do something stupid when I'm there. Makes sense right? So I think sometime soon I'll bug them about it. Graduation party might be fun to do that... June 17th everyone. (It's father's day, but I hope you guys don't already have plans because I want a bunch of people there.) I have to send out formal invitations, and if you don't get one and you're reading this just ask me here if you can come and then you can come! It'll be fun! Yay!
So now I have to do scholarships, so in case I choose not to go to UConn (which is a big chance right now) I will have a way to pay for it. Yay. Okay bye.Current Mood:  confused |
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Dood.... Gotta love tax returns! $488! !!!! YAY!!!
Mar. 27th, 2007 @ 10:51 am
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| » I CAN'T DECIDE!!! |
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Which school should I go to? I thought I was figuring it out! I had nearly settled for sure on Northeastern. And then... I get into MIT. They offer me money! They are actually reasonably priced now! (In comparison to some things... I could always use more!) I think that now it's between MIT and Northeastern. This lady at CVS today was talking to me about colleges... she was an admissions officer for University of Pennsylvania. She said that no matter what I should go for MIT. She's like, "The quality education is worth so much more! But I don't know. I really like the Co-op program at Northeastern, and it looked amazing when I was there. And I've heard that MIT is a better graduate school than undergrad. Am I stupid to pass up this deal? Oh my god, this is the hardest decision EVER!!! HELP!!!
Mar. 19th, 2007 @ 11:27 pm
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Okay so basically, yay UTC!!!
237 ended up ranked fifth after qualifications. We lost in the quarter finals, but I don't think it was fair. In NJ, I believe that we lost because the other robots most certainly outplayed us. However, this time, I think we were the ones who were better, but we lost due to a stupid penalty that wasn't even really our fault. There's a rule that says your robot can't be in your opponent's home zone during the last fifteen seconds of the game. You get penalized if you are. We were pushed into their home zone by their robots. And yet we got the penalty. Except for this, our strategy was totally working. We planned it out, and our opponents fell right into the trap we were hoping to get them in. It's just stupid PENALTIES! The elimination rounds are best two out of three matches. We lost the first one due to penalties, won the second due to a good strategy, and lost the third due to a breakdown in one of the robots, and being defended too much. Looking at this pattern though, the only thing keeping us out of the semi finals were these penalties. Darn you refs!! You don't even bother to notice that during qualifying rounds a robot grabs the ringers out of our claw twice! Clear violation. Oh well, we still won that match. Haha... we beat 25. Coming into this competition, we thought 25 was virtually unbeatable. But let's face it... NJ was not the best competition. They had little defense against them. They got showed up at UTC by 195, 1124, and 558. The perfect alliance to beat 25. 558 played some great defense and was a good ramp bot. I wish we had picked 1124. They were so efficient with their design. I'm still very pleased with the alliance we ended up with, and I think our alliance deserved to advance. It's amazing how small blunders can totally affect the results.
Oh well.
I really like being on the drive team. Being coach I can boss people around and I get to meet a lot more people. Plus, when teams hand out shirts to the team, the drive team gets first dibs. Yay robotics! I'm really going to miss it next year, but I think that if I get a chance, I'll be a mentor on the team from wherever I go to school. WPI has one, Northeastern has one, Renssalaer has one. MIT and UConn do not. Oh, this brings me to my next point. I got into MIT!!! Bless your soul if you read this far. I knew if I wasn't interested in robotics I would have stopped reading a long time ago. So yay! Go 237! :( No more regionals for me... I have one more comp
Mar. 18th, 2007 @ 05:08 pm
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| » Yay NJ Regional! |
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So basically, this regional wasn't our best showing ever. We were only 4-3-0, ranked 23rd or so. Eliminated in the quarter finals. However, I still feel like our robot was in the top five robots that were there. It is amazing how simple design issues cause a robot to do poorly in competition. I think we performed this way for two reasons:
1. For the first half of the regional our robot seriously lacked power because we had only installed single motor transmissions on the drive train. We were getting pushed by everyone.
2. Our grabber plates were poorly designed. We over-engineered them to be able to adjust to the width of the tubes we were picking up, but this turned out to be one of our problems. Also, we didn't anticipate how poorly the field managers would keep the tubes inflated. Some of then only had half the air they should have had. Also, at one point the grabber was flexed open because another robot slammed inside it. It was like a nightmare, we picked up about 8 tubes in the match, and every single one fell out of our grip. We have already looked to redesign them. They will be tapered toward the back for better grip on the tubes, and they will be made out of quarter inch aluminum instead of eighth inch. We are also going to use five belts on each side of the grabber instead of two for better grip.
I felt bad yesterday because I feel that my error caused us to lose the match. From where we were in the drivers station, I couldn't see one of the spider legs properly. It appeared as if it was empty, but there was actually a blue ringer on it. So I told Teddy and Joe to score on it because if it was just our ringer there, we would have doubled our points. However, if we had scored that ringer on a spider leg right near it, we would have gotten four more points, and it would have been enough to let us win the match. Visibility is a huge problem for us this year. I should have just looked at the real time scoring screen. *hits myself in face* I was too wrapped up in the game and didn't pay attention to the screen.
One other thing is... there's this guy on the team this year, and he's really sweet and kind of cute. And he was following me around all weekend. It was cool... only problem is that he's a freshmen. He doesn't look like a freshmen though, he's like six feet tall and has a mustache. Idk, we'll see about that...
Overall, most fun regional ever!
Mar. 4th, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
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Ever noticed that when you are hard pressed to make big decisions, you become more and more indecisive? Well maybe I'm the only one that's like that, but that's what I feel right now. I am so not sure what college I want to go to. Olin was such a good fit for me, I thought, but maybe it's a sign that I should go somewhere bigger and more established. I went to WPI last Sunday, and just got back from Northeastern on Saturday. Than I'm going to UConn in March. I already visited RPI a while ago for their medalists day. It's just, I'm so not sure where I want to be in the fall. I think I would enjoy all of them.
I like WPI's size, and their seven week semesters look cool. But their dorms suck. A lot. Northeastern's dorms are AMAZING! If I send in my housing deposit there soon I could get into West Village F and have the apartment style housing as a freshmen. I'd have a full size kitchen! It would be cool. Also, their Coop program looks amazing. Real job experience as like a sophomore in college? Come on, how cool is that? And they said that Northeastern students are requested by employers, with starting salaries of $62,000-76,000!!!! Starting salaries! Everywhere else I go, they say that starting salaries for engineers are about $55,000. One and a half years experience before you get out of college. Holy crap. Maybe Northeastern is the place for me. Boston is an amazing city. The thing is, I was going to base my decision on scholarship money, but then that means that I'd have to wait to send in my housing deposit until like April 20th, which would surely put me in the worse resHall. I don't know. I was finding myself having trouble making even small decisions, like what snack I wanted to eat. Ahhh! I just need to think...
Feb. 26th, 2007 @ 02:11 pm
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HOLY CRAP THE ROBOT IS DONE. WE SHIP TOMORROW. NEW JERSEY, WE LEAVE FEB. 28th!!!! Can't WAIT!
Feb. 19th, 2007 @ 11:18 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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I didn't get into Olin.
I was so excited about winning my award and everything... I mean it's a women in innovation and leadership award, it's a statewide award. This is the kind of thing that Olin is looking for. I just wish it was earlier so I could have put it on my application. I thought I would be a perfect match for Olin. You know, it really sucks when you're so sure of something, and then it doesn't happen like you planned. I figured I was good enough to get to the candidate's weekend. I was looking forward to it.
But I guess not.
Feb. 3rd, 2007 @ 10:18 pm
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( HOLY CRAP I WON )
Oh and Shari, this is the sword I bought...
( Scimitar )
Jan. 25th, 2007 @ 10:50 pm
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| » *sigh* |
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Wow... I only update my LJ like once every month and a half. I last updated when I got my MP3 player back in November. A lot has happened since then.
I now have a sword collection. A Japanese Katana, a Scottish Claymore and a Middle Eastern Scimitar.
For Christmas my mom bought me an iron and a laundry basket. (Luckily, these were not the only things she got me, but come on an iron for christmas?... wow)
Yesterday at work I was the most veteran employee working. Jen and Maureen have been working there less than I have, and I felt special. Only working there for 6 months still though.
Applications all completed, have heard from 4 schools out of 6. Got into Renssalaer, WPI, Northeastern and UConn. Just waiting to hear from the ones I really want to know about... MIT and Olin.
Kickoff was today! The Game looks SOOOOO much better than last years. It's called Rack N' Roll, and it features a large cylindrical rack with 3 layers of spikes that you can hang inner tubes on to make rows. It's like a really fancy version of tic tac toe. *EXCITED*
Um... The end...
Jan. 6th, 2007 @ 11:14 pm
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Yay! I got files to transfer! If you treat the MP3 Player like a flash drive... You can transfer files manually as if it's its own folder. Yay.
Nov. 25th, 2006 @ 01:05 pm
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yayforsegways's journal