Here's what my schedule looks like this semester...

EM384L - (graduate) Structural Dynamics; MWF 10-11
PED105R - Beginning Karate/Tae Kwon Do; MW 11-12:30P
ME333T - Engineering Communication; MW 1-2P, F 11-1P
ASE376K - Propulsion; MWF 2-3P
ASE166M - Space Applications Laboratory; M 6-9P
EM360 - Apps. of Finite Element Methods; TTH 11-12:30P

Only 14 hours of classes this semester, but one is a grad class, which should be beastly, and another meets with the grad version of the class. Funny, one of my former TA's is in my class- weieieierd, huh?

*BLARRRGGGG... I had just put my Naruto phone chain onto my cell, and like only an hour later, the whole thing breaks off and I lose it. graggghhh... Made in China, hmph!

I watched Garden State tonight with John from kung fu. I liked the movie muchly. The humor of the movie is subtle, and it's got a bunch of mini-monologues that are just absolutely brilliant.

"This is your one opportunity to do something that no one has ever done before and that no one will copy again throughout human existence. And if nothing else, you'll be remembered as the one guy who ever did this, this one thing."
...like my rallying cry for anytime I want to do something crazy and stupid.

"You know that point in your life when you realize that the house you grew up in isn't really your home any more? That idea of home is gone. Maybe that's all family really is- a group of people that miss the same imaginary place."
...a sentiment that I've been feeling ever since I left for college. It hits it dead on.

*I finished up reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I like reading books that are written in a very conversational tone as opposed to fancy pantsy prose. But what I also noticed was that several of my favorite books are about or narrated by psychotic or otherwise borderline mental cases: Catch-22, Slaughterhouse Five, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Hah, maybe I relate well to crazy folk, hahaha.

Anyways, the book is narrated by a boy with Asperger's syndrome, which I guess is kinda comparable to autism. It's written so you feel like you're inside his head. And the book is littered with mathematical and logic problems that just make you think a lot. For example:

The word metaphor means carrying something from one place to another, and it comes from the Greek words meta (which means from one place to another) and ferein (which means to carry) and it is when you describe something by using a word for something that it isn't. This means that the word metaphor is a metaphor.

...but if "metaphor" is a metaphor, then it no longer describes something it isn't, right? Which means it's no longer a metaphor? If it is what it isn't, then it isn't what it is??? Catch-22. I musta spent like 2+ hours straight turning this phrase around in my head to make some sense of it.

The book also brings up the Monty Hall problem:

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car, behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say number 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say number 3, which has a goat. He says to you, "Do you want to pick door number 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice of doors?

...the answer's not nearly as simple as at first appears. You'd think it'd be 50/50 either way, but it's not! I had to do like a rigorous mathematical proof before I accepted it, and even then I still didn't want to believe it. I think what throws things off is the fact that the door the host shows you isn't random (he can't show you the correct answer or what's behind your door), so standard probability procedures don't apply. Try it out and be amazed.

Anyways, the book is spattered with all kinds of fun stuff like that. It's got pictures and a weird chapter numbering scheme too. A very quirky book indeed.

Man, I went and got my haircut after a summer of letting it grow out, and they LOPPED OFF MY SIDEBURNS! >=O After much pressuring, I was like, "ok, just trim the sideburns up a bit," but then they go crazy on 'em and practically chop them off completely. Dang, I even did the pinchy thing with the fingers to indicate how much I wanted off, but to no avail. grrrr... that sets me back like half a year. When I got home, my mom was like "YESSSSSS!!!" I feel like there's huge parts of my head missing when I look in the mirror now. =/ They're half the sideburns they used to be... =(