What I learned this semester.

So I should be studying for my Geophysics final that I have in 3 hours, but I really just don't care. I'm so burnt out of school, this has been a really long and hard semester. I have two classes done Sedimentation/Stratigraphy and Geomorphology, I feel like I made good effort in both of them and will probably get good grades. The last two finals I have are in Global Geophysics (not to be confused with the ungodly Applied Geophysics that I somehow magically got an A in last semester) and Geoarchaeology. These are today and tomorrow, respectively.

I felt like I'd write and get my mind off of plate driving forces and refraction angles for a minute.

So I guess I pissed a lot of people off with my previous blog, sorry. I guess I really shouldn't be so blunt with my thoughts, at least not in a public blog, that's what journals are for. I always justify this by saying, it's not like you're required to read it, but apparently I have these things called friends and they read it because they like me or.. because they're really bored or maybe because I actually write decently. I don't know, I've not asked. Anyway, if I made fun of you or you feel like I made fun of you, and aren't married to a frat boy, I apologize. If you're married to a frat boy.. eh.. there are far worse things in your life. I just request that you try to see things from my point of view on the subject. It can be a bit frustrating at times. I know just about anyone, not part of the majority USU demograph, who read it and said something to me about it, said something to the effect of, "I liked your blog, I feel the exact same way - it's ballsy of you to write something like that." Regardless of it being ballsy or not, it's probably not very kind to some of my best friends. I also apologize that it kind of got misinterpreted into an anti-Mormon blog post. That wasn't my intention at all.

Hmm, what have I learned this semester? Well boring stuff like how to interpret stratigraphic sequences, how to identify landforms and what they mean, why the mammoths all died and how to make heads or tails out of geophysics, but I don't want to go into that. No one wants to read about what I learn in geology classes, not even me... well maybe the occasional stupid kid who sits by me in lab because they don't get it would. Fortunately all of my lab partners this semester were just as smart, if not smarter, than me. So I learned that I'm finally getting old, well maybe old is the wrong term, but I'm finally acting like an adult (sometimes). Take the previous paragraph for an example, when have I ever apologized for offending someone? Psh, my previous take on life was if I offended you, you're pathetic. That's not true though, people have feelings. I also learned that I like to accomplish my responsibilities. In prior semesters if I'd been assigned something I didn't understand or didn't feel was fair, I'd just not do it. Yesterday I did an assignment that I felt was both unnecessary and assigned way too late in the semester to be fair. It's only worth about 5% of my grade in a class where I believe the professor will simply assign grades based on her feelings more than pure stats, but I did it anyway. Did I learn much from it? Nah, but I got it done.

I learned that Lost is an amazing show. I never watched it when it was on TV because it looked dumb, I watched most of the 3rd season with some neighbors, but only did it because they were always up at 2am watching Lost. When I actually followed the whole first season though I was like "Whoaaaa... this show rules." I learned that I like pistachios. I never tried them because they were green, but they're good. I learned that anyone can become whipped... except me of course ;) I'm far too much of a bad ass for that. Haha, it'll probably happen someday - but when it does it'll be mutual. She WILL like college basketball and sci-fi, or at least put up with it like a good sport.

I went on a geomorphology camping trip instead of watching Utah State beat BYU in football and I regretted it at first, but now I realize there are more important things than sports. I made some really good friends on that trip. It's important to be tight with the people in your department. I learned that I really like my department. I know nearly every one of the undergrads on a first-name basis now and I like just about every single one of them. I'm going to miss them after next semester.

I learned just how quickly you can make and lose really close friends. I learned that I really really really don't like one-night flings anymore. Though maybe if it were Michelle Trachtenberg I'd be okay with it still. Yeah, definitely would be okay with it. I learned how to use Adobe Illustrator over the course of two very very very long nights.. wait.. no, that's academic related, scratch that. I learned just how stubborn I am when it comes to shopping at Walmart. With all the times I tagged along with friends or roommates to that evil place, I couldn't have spent more than $20 there all semester. I learned that I love teaching people. I spent way more time than necessary to help people learn freshmen geology simply because the other UTF was never around, but honestly I didn't mind. He did the one thing I didn't want to do more than anything else this semester, make a huge nasty excel file, yuck.

I learned just how much I hate pork. Just a couple nights ago I ate some pork ribs, they were fantastic tasting - but I've honestly been kind of mad at myself for it since then. Like seriously? Almost three years without eating pigs and I gave in with like the most minimal pressure ever simply because my roommate barbecued the most delicious smelling ribs ever? Lame. Hell, I even worked at Chili's for part of that pork-free time. I learned how good of a diet I can make myself have when I try. I can't remember any time in my life when I've eaten so many fruits and vegetables. I sleep like 5 hours a night now and feel fine all day because of it. (Though I do sneak in the occasional nap when I get bored.) Here's a big surprise, but I'm going to say it anyway.. Aggie basketball games just aren't fun anymore when it's a blow out. I think I've become desensitized to it by all the 30+ point wins year after year. The funnest games I've been to all year were Weber State (because we were down by 11 and came back to win by 10) and Northeastern (because it was back and forth the whole game) The huge wins over the U of U and Long Beach... really not that great beyond the just "going out and doing something with my friends" aspect.

I can't go to grad school next fall. This isn't to say I will never go to grad school, but I'm burnt out man. If you couldn't see this by the fact that I'm writing in my blog instead of studying for one of the hardest finals I'm ever going to take, I'm telling you now. I just want to finish my bachelors degree and move. I don't even care where I move or what I do for work (though hopefully it's related to geology and pays 40-50k a year to start, haha) I do want a Masters degree eventually, but if I were to start in 2011, I wouldn't finish it. Maybe we'll shoot for 2012? Hell by then it won't matter, because the worlds ending anyway, right? Wrong, dumbass :)

I guess I should study now. The end.