End of Classes

Well, Friday was the official end of classes. And it was surprisingly sad to say goodbye to a couple of my professors. My chemistry prof in particular. On Friday, he wrapped up the new material and said a good bye, thanking us for the great semester. Everybody applauded and there was even some standing ovation, and it was kind of sad to think that we'll have a new professor for general chemistry! (He's not leaving or anything, he just doesn't teach the second half of general chemistry because that's outside his specialty.)
As sad as it is to say goodbye to my writing 1 teacher and my intro psych professor as well, it is kind of nice to be moving on. I'm very, very glad I took both courses, but I'm excited to branch out a little more next semester and have more smaller, non lecture based classes.
Unfortunately with classes over, this means the finals season is upon us. This weekend was more or less the last hoorah for fun, because starting tomorrow, fun will officially have died, only to be resurrected on the 22nd when finals are over. Think of it like a college version of Easter.
I'm kidding of course, but the next week will be annoying to say the least. Especially because last night was the first snow since I've been here. The accumulation wasn't much, and the university has done a pretty good job keeping the paths cleared, but as of now (6pm, sunday), it's snowing slightly and very windy. The temperature is 17 degrees, but don't worry, the wind chill makes it feel like 0 degrees. And I'm not just estimating. That's what it says on weather.com. BLAH!
But I'm surviving so far. Everybody is all bundled up and looks like marshmallows, and there's been a couple of snowball fights, and to be honest, it is very pretty with the snow. Still, I could go for a good old Seattle winter about now. 45 degrees and drizzling doesn't sound so bad now...

But that's there not here (get it? A play on "neither here nor there"... sorry, I just think I'm too clever...). As Aoife keeps reminding me, 10 days till I'm on the plane home, and I can't wait to be back. This semester has been great, but I could go for some sleep, relaxation, and family time. I can't wait to see you all and miss you guys!
Love,
Brendan

Long Time!

Sorry for the long, LONG time since my last update. It's bizarre to think I was home just a week ago. Being home was fantastic, but it was still good to be back at WashU with all my friends. The only problem is it's going to a frantic couple of weeks till Christmas break. This past week was more or less the calm before the storm. This week I've got a chem test on Tuesday, psych test on friday, chem lab on thursday, a physics lab due on monday, as well as an essay due on monday. After next week I've got another week of calm, because we have reading week, which is designed to be a break between classes and finals, so you can study, and write your final essays. Then all I've got is 4 tests and an essay between me and Christmas break!

Other than school work, it's been a pretty good weekend. Today was spent in the library, but yesterday I slept in, and then went to skyzone (similar to skyhigh in seattle) which is basically a warehouse full of trampolines. WashU sold discounted tickets and provided buses out there. We had a good group going, with the whole place rented out. My friends and I played dodgeball almost the whole time, and it turned out to be a fun little flashback to elementary school PE.
Friday night was equally as fun. I dragged two friends to a show put on by KWUR. The band was called Monotonix, and it was one of the best live shows I've ever been to. These guys were crazy. They're an Israeli garage rock band that have been banned by most of the nightclubs in Israel, and for good reason. They don't use a stage. Instead they migrate throughout the crowd, moving the drum kit and generally going crazy. A good review of the show is here http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/atoz/2010/12/monotonix_review_2010_setlist_photos_st_louis_gargoyle_december_3_heavy_cream.php and they even have a few shots with me in it!

Overal, it's been a good weekend. That being said it'll be a stressful couple of weeks till I'm back home again! I miss you guys and can't wait to be home again for Christmas!
Love,
-Brendan

I've got to admit, it's getting better..

This week has been quite eventful, to say the least! I'll start back on Wednesday. It was one of my friend Liz's birthday, so we went out to a middle eastern restaurant on the Loop. For those of you that don't know, the Loop is a cool college-y street with a bunch of cool shops, restaurants and such that's about a half a mile or mile from campus. The restaurant was really good and it was fun to get off campus!
We would have stayed later and enjoyed the Loop, but I had to be back at 8:30 for my final EST interview, which was a doozy. Everyone was told to meet at an auditorium near the library, then we were put into groups of 4 and marched to the bottom of Brookings Hall (which is the iconic castle looking building that WashU is famous for). Waiting for us were a four or five EST members, a stretcher and a couple of large bags. We were told that essentially we were going on a mock call, and that although no medical knowledge was required, we would make the team or be cut based on how we performed. So the first team was told to pick up their equipment and get ready. Without warning, the medics that were waiting for us yelled "GO", and started yelling at the first group to hurry up. As we watched the first group sprint up the stairs up to Brookings, we were a little worried.
When it was finally my 4 person team's turn, we all grabbed the gear quickly and started sprinting. The medics ran with us, yelling at us to go faster, and move as a team. Sufficiently intimidated, we sprinted into Brookings quad, where we saw thirty or so people in a semi-circle with six or seven people laying in the middle. We sprinted over to them, all while the people in the circle screamed at us to hurry up, that people were dying, help them, save them, etc. We ran over and tried to talk to the people in the middle, trying to help them however we could, but it was really to no avail. There was nothing we could do so I tried to just comfort them, all while thirty people were screaming at me. Suddenly, one of the senior medics screams "STOP STOP STOP! What are you people doing! This is supposed to be a medic team. You're neither acting as a team nor helping people. You, you're off the team." And just like that one of our four person team was out. And the thirty people began screaming at us again. After what seemed like hours, another medic screams "STOP! You aren't even trying to help these people! How do you expect us to save people's lives with behavior like this! Take this bag" as he threw a bag into the middle of us, "and use the tools inside it." Everyone in the semicircle then started screaming to open the bag and use our tools. Upon opening the bag we realized that inside were three EST shirts, and we had made the team. Immediately all the medics start cheering and hugging us. It was all very relieving and awesome to know I had made the team!
Apparently of 300+ applicants, I was one of 18 chosen (not to brag or anything...). The guy that was kicked off during the third "interview" was just a decoy, and an effective one at that. It was all very very exciting and fun to start meeting the people on the team. Evidently, most of them know our names already, and know literally everything we put on our application and talked about in our interviews. It was creepy at first when everybody on the team knew my name, but it was kind of endearing.
The next couple of days were fun just relaxing and hanging out with the few people that were still on the floor (literally more than half of my floor left for fall break, which only really amounted to Friday off). Saturday was great fun, because after working for a while, me, Josh (my RA) and five other kids from my floor drove to Forest Park and went paddleboating. Then afterwards Josh invited me and two other guys out to dinner with his friend, so we got a fantastic Italian dinner on the Hill for pretty cheap, and then Ted Drews for dessert!
So overall I think that this week has made up for the last couple. Especially because I'm feeling so much better!
Know I've got an essay to finish and the first EST meeting to go to tonight, so that's all for now!
Love love love!
-Brendan

Third Show!

Hey all! I finally have my shows uploaded to somewhere where y'all can access them and download/listen them. They should just be in mp3, so whatever windows media player/itunes will work to play them. Hopefully the downloads aren't limited or anything but I don't know... But anyways, if you want to listen to my radio show in all it's awkward glory, here's the link to do so. Just go to the link and SCROLL DOWN. At the bottom it says Download Link: 10-12-2010.mp3 or whatever the file name is. Click that, NOT the other 20 buttons that say download... those are all ads.

Here's yesterdays show (10/12/10)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gvpmjw
And the playlist

Mountain Man How'm I Doin'
John Lee Hooker The Waterfront
Iron & Wine Sodom, South Georgia
Joshua Radin Star Mile
Jenny Lewis Acid Tongue
Owen Playin' Possum For a Peek
Modest Mouse Perfect Disguise [BBC Radio]
Gustav & The Seasick Sailors Distant Mornings
Caribou Hello Hammerheads
Theodore Abilene
Megafaun Carolina Day
Robert Ellis Cemetery
John Coltrane Bass Blues

Then for 2 weeks ago, (9/27/10)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/22hgt3

Nat King Cole: Unforgettable
Citizen Cope: Salvation
Bear Ceusel: Saw It Beating
...Rocky Votolato: Tinfoil Hats
Minature Tigers: Dino Damage
The Senate: Skeleton Line
Dreamend: My Old Brittle Bones
Sarah Jaffe: Stay With Me
Glen Hansard: Leave
Ryan Adams: Amy
Nick Drake: Place To Be
The Shins: A Comet Appears
Elliot Smith: Angel In The Snow
John Coltrane: Dealin’

Bad Week (part 1)

The last week or so has been kind of rough. It started last Thursday with a physics test, then an essay due and my EST 2nd round interview on Friday. Saturday and Sunday were spent studying for a psych test on Monday, and a chem test on Tuesday. Not to mention a physics lab on Tuesday and a chem lab on Thursday. So all in all it's been a rough week.
The tests were all fairly straight forward. The physics test went quite well, and I ended up getting a 92% which I was very happy with. The psych test went surprisingly well, considering that I had gone to the Vampire Weekend concert (WHICH WAS AWESOME) the night before. But a friend on my floor had sat me down and essentially tested/quizzed me for a couple hours after the concert which helped immensely. The chemistry test was a bear. Rumors had been circulating for a while about how hard the test was supposed to be. Supposedly last year, the average on the first test was a 31%. So all of us were nervous for good reason. As a floor a bunch of us studied together for a long time the night before, and all of us commented how we had never had to study quite like this an exam. The test itself was hard. An hour and a half, and most people I talked to didn't finish. I worked fast, and was able to write down something for each problem which was an accomplishment in itself. I ended up getting a 76%, which was good considering the average was 64%, and an A was a 75% and above!
The EST interview was... interesting. It was set up to have 3 rooms. The first room was a big semi circle of people, everybody laughing and very casual. The room was filled with good karma and general good vibes. Then after 15 minutes or so, they called me out and took me to the second room, which was polar opposite. It was a small, dimly lit room, where everybody was in suits. They didn't introduce themselves, and all their questions were very negative. I knew they were trying to play good cop/bad cop, and intimidate us to see how we'd hold up under pressure, but it was still not a very fun interview. I tried my best to stay positive and friendly, and in the end it worked out. Yesterday, after refreshing my email for the whole week, I finally got an email, and I got called back to a 3rd interview!
But that's about it for the good news. On Wednesday I was feeling pretty crummy, and then Thursday I felt terrible. I ended up deciding not to go to classes, and go to student health services (SHS) and get myself checked out. Turns out I have mono. And a sinus infection. AND I found out that triceratops don't exist. Or rather were never real. So all in all, Thursday was a bad day.
Luckily, SHS was able to call a local pharmacy that delivers to the dorms, and so I got some sudafed, prescription strength ibuprofen, and some nasal spray. Good times!
Today I feel pretty crappy, and literally stayed in bed till 12. Slowly but steadily I'll get better. The real bummer was that this weekend is a huge free concert that's put on twice a week called WILD (Walk In, Lay Down), so I'll be stuck sleeping in the dorms while everybody else is off having fun. But, as my RA said, there are still 7 more!

Anyways, that's the major (long overdue) update.
Miss and love everybody!
-Brendan

First Show

Well, monday night/tuesday morning was my first radio show! I ended up showing up to the station at around 10 or 11 monday night and just worked there, while burning cds to my computer and getting ready. When I was finally up, I was really nervous, but had a few things scripted out, as well as a rough idea of what songs I was going to play. So you all know, there are some basic things that I have to do during my show in order to keep the station legal. On the top of the hour and the 1/2 hour I have to read a station ID, which is simply "K-W-U-R 90.3 Clayton FM". Then after every 15 and 45 I have to read a public service announcement (PSA), and if I'm going to be playing songs that say expletives, I have to read a disclaimer that basically says this may be offensive and does not represent WashU or KWUR. Then finally, I have to log every song I play into the computer system called Unicron.
During my show, everything was going well, but I was really nervous, so I kept on butchering artist names, making nervous mistakes, and falling behind on logging the songs I played. But I was having a ton of fun, and apparently it sounded really good. But then about half way through my show, Unicron crashed. I had no idea what to do then so I kind of freaked out. I ended up just writing down every song I played and when I did PSA's by hand, which was exactly what I should have done. It was still really stressful and not a great way to finish off my first show. But all in all, for my first show I was really happy with it.
Unfortunately though, when I woke up tuesday morning (11am...) I felt really crappy. I had been fighting a cold for a while, but I think staying up till 3:30am gave the cold a bit of an upper hand. Luckily I only had a physics lab, which ended up only taking an hour or so, so I was back at my dorm around 4 and then slept till 7. During that time I was fairly feverish so it wasn't very fun. And to make matters worse, that was the night of my interview for EST!
For those of you who I haven't told about EST (which is pretty much everybody...), EST is the Emergency Support Team, which is the on campus, student led emergency responders. I decided to join the 100+ freshmen who apply (only freshmen and sophomores can apply, and sophomores can only if they already have their emt certification), and try to make the team of 14-18 people. Last night was the first of the interview process and, despite me feeling sick, I think I did pretty well! With a little bit of luck, I'll get called back for the second round of interviews (and then the third, if necessary). If I do end up making the team, then I'll have to take cpr training this semester, then next semester I'll enroll in a 3 credit class, which turns out to be around 8 hours a week, which will prepare me for the emt certification test. Also part of this, will be 40 hours of on site training, which means either riding in an ambulance on calls, or working in an ER.
It's all pretty intensive, but I think it'd be an amazing thing to do, so I really hope I make it!
That's all for now,
-Brendan

Busy Busy Busy...

The last few weeks have been hectic to say the least. The dust from choosing classes is finally starting to settle and I'm establishing some semblance of a routine, but everything is still pretty rough. I haven't really explained my schedule too well yet, so I'll give y'all the run down. Mondays Wednesday Friday I get up around 9, take a shower and get ready to go. I'm out the door around 9:45 when I'll grab a yogurt and bagel or apple or something to munch on as I walk to my first class, Intro to Psych. A girl on my floor, Sarah, is in that class as well, so we normally walk together. That's an hour long lecture class, but it's been quite interesting so far. After that, I have a seven minute passing period to book it to chemistry lecture. The professor is good fun, and randomly engaging. Example: one day, randomly, a bunch of people from Red Bull (the drink) came and were giving out red bulls during lecture. Why? Not really sure... But it was funny to watch Professor Loomis react. After that I have a two hour break, where I'll get a quick lunch then work in the library, normally getting ahead in reading or physics. At 2 I go to writing which is my only non-lecture class. It's small and okay, but it's in the basement of the engineering building for some reason, meaning it's in a small, white washed, windowless room with very artificial lighting that steadily crushes your soul. But despite this the class is fun, with good talkative people! After this I have a short walk to Physics, which is really fun lecture class, that is more supplementary to the reading. My professor tries not to teach us new material (yet) but rather correct misconceptions, and clarify how we think through and conceptualize problems. By then, it's 4pm, and I'll either do some more work at the library, or (more commonly) go to KWUR to work or rip cd's or something.

Speaking of KWUR (I'll talk about my Tuesday/Thursdays next time... gotta have something to keep everybody coming back!), the schedule was finalized, and my show time will be 2-3... am... Tuesday morning. And I know what you're thinking: "OUCH!" Sure, this is kind of a crummy show time. But it does have some good merits. First and foremost, I'll be able to survive this time, because I only have classes every other Tuesdays at 1pm. Also, this is pretty much the only time slot in which is still Safe Harbor Hours (which allow me to play expletives). So in short, I can play anything during these hours.
If anybody wants to listen, you can go to www.kwur.com, and then on the left side of the screen, click "128k" Under "Listen Live". You may need itunes or a similar application... I'm not really sure. But if you're not feeling up to listening at midnight (for you west coast people), don't fear! KWUR automatically records and stores every show, so I can upload an mp3 of my show to a website and let anybody download it. Sure it won't be quite the same as listening live, but at least you won't have to stay up so late! I'll get more details when I know exactly how its all gonna work!

More cool KWUR news is that I joined the production staff. The production staff is in charge of getting bands who're coming to town to come into the studio and play a short set for us to broadcast live, and then give a short interview. So last Monday after classes I helped out for three hours as three artists came through and played. It was very cool, even if they were artists I had never heard of.

One final bit of particularly noteworthy news is that I went to one of the practices of the water polo team! It was very intersting, but I don't think I'm going to continue with it. For one, every other person there had at least swam in high school, and was in much better shape for the kind of activity that they were doing. I think what I'll end up doing is trying to swim and work out during open swim at the Athletic Complex, getting me in better shape. Then next semester/year I might try again. I haven't entirely decided, but even as a club sport it seems very intensive and I don't know if I'll have the bandwidth for that.

But oh well. I do believe it is time to start the mini-essay I have to write. I'll try to update this more often (I know, I know, I've been slacking).

I love you all and can't wait to see you (eventually)!
Love,
Brendan

First Week

Well, I'm finally done with the first week. It's been busy and hectic, but a load of fun. First and foremost, I finalized my schedule. It took a couple of talks with my adviser, emails to heads of the physics and chemistry department, and a meeting with one of the physics professors, but I finally decided to drop calculus, and instead take intro to psychology. That means my schedule will be writing 1, general chemistry, physics and intro to psychology. I'm really liking this schedule. A couple of reasons: First of all, my earliest class is 10 am, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Also, my only classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays are either lab sections or discussion sections. Labs meet every other week, so most Tuesdays and Thursdays I won't have much to do. Finally, the physics class I'm taking is geared towards possible physics majors, so people who actually like physics, as opposed to those just taking it as a pre-med requirement or something. This means the class is much more logic and conceptual based, and prompts more discussion, which I think I'm really going to enjoy.
After all the stress of changing around my schedule, I'm finally getting into the groove. I'm loving my professors, too. My intro to psych teacher is a really interesting lecturer, and I can tell I'm really going to like that class. My chem professor is a crazy guy, but clearly very smart. Any time somebody asks a question, he makes them introduce themselves, and any time he draws a graph or pantomimes a motion, he insists the whole lecture hall (300ish people I believe) use sound effects. My writing 1 professor is a English grad student, but she seems to be a decent professor (although we haven't had much interaction). My physics professor is one of those guys who clearly loves his job, and can explain very complicated things well enough to be understood by, say, a freshman in a 100 level physics class.
But besides classes, I've been keeping very busy. Thursday, for example, I didn't have any classes (because discussion sections/labs haven't started yet), so I did all the homework/laundry/miscellaneous housekeeping that needed to be done. Then at 5:30, I went for a run with running club, got back in time to take a shower and eat, then rush off to juggling club briefly before going to the exec staff meeting for the radio. Exec staff is basically the leaders of the radio program, who make sure all the little things get done. It was interesting to sit in on the meeting and hear all about the inner workings of the radio, and the pre-orientation kids even got introduced and it was all very cool.
Other than official meetings and classes, our floor has been doing a huge amount of bonding. Pretty much every other freshmen floor is jealous of Ruby 1 (my floor), and how close everybody is. Whenever people are in their room, the doors are propped open, and everybody is welcome to wander in and hang out. This Friday, we were just hanging out, and then somebody mentioned how classy Ruby 1 was. That then prompted us all to dress up (ranging from me in shorts, a polo and a tie, to a guy in a suit and bowtie), and then have a dance party in one of the triples. I have some pictures on my FaceBook, and I'll try to remember to email out some pictures for those of you who are not on there.
I think that's about all for now. Today our plan is to head over to the zoo as a floor, so that'll be good fun! Love and miss you all!

-Brendan

First Day

So I finally got around to writing this. Today was the first day of classes, so the campus was bustling with students. With everyone moved in, it's become a pain to eat at any kind of normal time, especially for dinner. between 5:30 and 7:00 the dinning halls are packed beyond belief. But I've gotten into the habit of having a light breakfast of either fruit (they normally have a decent apple/orange/banana selection) and a yogurt. I still haven't figured out a good way to buy in bulk, but that's my goal over the next few days. Evidently there are some grocery stores somewhere along the several metro lines around campus, but I have yet to pinpoint them. But all and all, its not too bad. This morning I sat in on German 101, which was intimidating but interesting, then went straight to Calc 3 which I found surprisingly interesting. Although these were my only classes for the day (well, technically I had a physics lab section, but those don't meet for a couple of weeks), I'm currently enrolled in General Chemistry (5 units), Calculus 3 (4 units), Writing 1 (3 units), and Physics 197 (4 units) which is the slightly more in depth of the two introductory physics classes. I'm also wait-listed in Intro to Psych (3 units). If this seems like a lot, it is. My adviser suggested that taking physics, Calc, and gen chem all in one semester would be too science/math heavy and that I may burn out, so I've been considering dropping one of the three in favor of psych. Right now I'm leaning towards calc, but I'm still fairly undecided.
Today was also the first "official unofficial" meeting of the Club Running. I ran for the first time and even though I was in my old running shoes it felt GREAT. It was a short 4 mile out and back (with two very VERY small "hills"), but we ran rather fast. It felt so great to get out and stretch my legs with some good people. They meet three times a week, and then have another optional track workout on Mondays, so I think I'll join up with them. For a $25 membership fee, they subsidize all the races we enter, which ends up being a lot cheaper. The club seems like most of the fun of the varsity XC team, with considerably less time commitment which seems like a great trade off. Speaking of sports, they had a small club sports fair, with sports like rock climbing, ultimate frisbee, rowing and tae kwan doe.
Everything is really exciting! Hopefully I'll get a chance to update everybody more often, but I love you all and I can't wait to see everybody soon!