1.02.2012

Day 223

Ok then.  Yesterday was new years.  Woo hoo.  I woke up fairly early after falling asleep on a couch at AJ's apartment around 12:30.  So I actually ended up getting around 7 or so hours of sleep.  AJ made us all breakfast burritos, then Miles and I cleaned up and headed back to Findlay.  It was pretty uneventful, except for the part where it was really windy.  Miles and I talked about all sorts of things on the way back.  For part of the time we talked about how a lot of people see new years as a time to reflect and restart, even though there isn't anything magical that happens.  I think that for most people it's a logical time to have closure, which I believe is important for many people.  Even if people don't explicitly think in terms of numbers and patterns, it integrates into their lives and unconsciously respond to cycles.


So to follow the trend and recap the important moments (that I remember) of my past year:

  • Last January I learned what it means to truly have too much time on your hands.  I hope to never be that bored again.  But I did learn how to play Axis and Allies and made some friends doing so.
  • For the last time I saw how dead Mount Vernon becomes when the power goes out.
  • I learned that many authority figures are just trying to follow the rules so that they don't get in trouble with their boss.  In trying to get my independent study cleared during very unlikely circumstances, I had 4 or 5 different people explain to me how to get it past the next person.  Even though I was a month late on my paperwork, was asking to take a directed study for a course which I could have taken in a normal classroom, and really didn't have a valid reason for having an independent study, I was able to convince all the right people why I should be allowed to do so.
  • This past spring I had the most difficult and time consuming classes of my undergraduate career: real analysis and senior colloquium.  Real analysis is a math class that deals with proving the fundamental laws of numbers, sets of numbers, and calculus.  In my senior colloquium I did a research paper concerning the moral obligation MVNU has to the people in the Beliezean education system regarding the recent installation of computers by MVNU faculty and students, including myself.  It turned into a 15 page paper with which I was very pleased.  I think it was one of my crowning moments of my time at Mount Vernon.
  • I got pretty close with Adam, since he and I volunteered at the homeless shelter together and worked out together.  And played a lot of video games together.
  • I have a new appreciation for Monday Night Raw.  Say what you will about how fake it is.  But I think that it has a very deep sociological message that often gets forgotten.  On the show, the fights are 85% staged.  There is also a mysterious General Manager that will make new rules or change things going on just to cause drama.  Someone might have won the match, but the General Manager can send a message saying "Nope.  He actually lost.  Surprise!"  All of this is done to make people upset and cause drama.  And this has the immediate effect of bringing people back week after week.  People are addicted to drama, especially when it doesn't involve them.  This made me think about media in general.  Think of a standard news source.  We often hear about the negative side of everything.  Terrorist attacks, hurricanes, death, disease, addiction, lies, and so on.  All of these things are negative.  But, much like in Monday Night Raw, it makes people keeping going back day after day.  People love watching celebrity drama for the same reason.  All of this results in higher viewer counts and higher profits for the network.  So the overall message that I learned is this: negative media means higher profits.
  • I got closer to people with whom I worked in Academic Support, like Maradith, Ricky, and Deborah.  I like them.
  • Kimmy and I went to Florida for a spring break mission trip.  It was really good.  I became pretty good friends with a guy who lived near me my freshman year and some other people I had never seen before.
  • Kimmy and I hung out!
  • My Senior Colloquium class was very enlightening.  Every Wednesday Joe Noonen had breakfast together and talked about different topics and ethically evaluated them.  Such as the implications of corporate-run prisons.  We would take some scenario and break it down into the most fundamental parts of what was going on, looking at everything in terms of personal relationships and interactions.  It was very good for considering just how complicated every single situation is so complicated.  It made me realize that since simple scenarios can actually be very complicated, we shouldn't take really complicated topics and automatically have a canned opinion of them.  It is of utmost importance to always have an open mind.
  • I graduated!
  • Over the summer I went to Montana with the family.  And driving out there is not fun.
  • I took an economics class.  It was ok.
  • I helped mama and poppy move to their new place.
  • I started blogging, which acts as an open journal.  Keeping a journal has been one of the best decisions I've made in my recent years.
  • I had a fantastic summer of hanging out with Becky and Miles.
  • This fall was a very big learning experience for me.  I finally learned what an actuary is, I made some new friends, went to a job fair, learned how to make a resume, and I'm learning how to interview.
  • I've taken three of the hardest class I've ever had and used bits and pieces of a lot of my mathematical background.  Even the things I didn't think I would ever use.
  • I learned what it means to study.  Like actually study.
  • I'm learning how to live on my own and do big kid things.  Like cook and pay bills and budget.
  • Kimmy and I got engaged!
  • I taught a freshman level math class this past fall.  It was fun, but I am very glad that I decided not to teach for the rest of my life.  It just isn't for me.
  • I learned many more lessons of frustration, disappointment, sadness, and confusion.
  • Overall the fall semester was a success.  I think that many of you have read about it as I have blogged.
  • There have been many many more things, but I don't have the time to discuss them all.  I hope that everyone else has also had an exciting year.  I'd love to hear about your year in the comments.  Even if you're one of those people that never comments or "likes," you should say something about your year, be it good or bad.



When I got home I very promptly took a shower.  I didn't smell very good and I felt disgusting.  After my shower I did some studying, napped, and then more studying.  Then Kimmy got here for dinner!  And after dinner we all just hung out for a while.  Eventually Kimmy and I went to Becky's to celebrate Marci's birthday!  We had cake and played Dominion.  And then we came home because Kimmy and I were tired.  The end!

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