Enjablog

Today is the last day of National Blog Posting Month!

It’s been a fun experiment, but it’s also been time-consuming. And I can’t believe no one else did this with me! What’s up with that? =P

This semester is kicking my butt. I spent a good portion of yesterday figuring out how to resign from the semester and drop my one class. It’s really that bad. But I emailed the profs to find out if it was just me or if there might be a curve that I should be accounting for and whether my last exam was at the point where it would be impossible to undo the damage now. It’s possible, but improbable that I could pass on my own merit. With a curve, it’s “practically feasible.”

So. I’ve decided. I’m not going down without a fight. (That’s what she said.) I’ve decided I need to quit the internet. Cold turkey. This is it. I need to eat, breathe, and sleep aero/hydro for the next 2 weeks. It will consume my life and then I will be free. Pass or fail, I will at least have tried… which I haven’t been doing enough of this semester. And if my best isn’t good enough, I will manage. Either way, I would be taking this again next fall, so I may as well make the attempt to understand it now. It can’t hurt, right? I mean, it can hurt. But it won’t work against me in the future.

I have so many excuses for why I’m failing this course. But what it boils down to is that I was unmotivated to work on this because it was difficult. It was more challenging than I was prepared for and I made a decision, conscious or otherwise, to not put in the effort so I would have an excuse when I failed. I allowed myself to procrastinate, goof off, and just not try. I’ve been doing this a lot lately. It ends now.

I have a couple entries left to auto-post over the next couple days. And then I’ll be back on the 11th. Maybe.

The Future:
I was planning to take next semester off and focus completely on the PE exam. Earlier this week, I went to go check drop/add to drop the class for which I pre-registered. Fortunately, the course that I signed up for, Advanced Naval Architecture, was canceled. Unfortunately, the course that I originally wanted to sign up for, Advanced Ship Dynamics, got added. This wasn’t offered last spring, so I think it’s on a 2-year cycle. Like the Submarine Design class I took this summer.

I need a plan. Should I just expect to be working on this until 2011? Should I lower my expectations even more and accept that I’m really just taking these classes for “fun” and not worry about a schedule? I’m tired.

I think that just decided it for me. I missed out on a lot my last year of my undergrad because I was so burnt out. In light of this semester, I think I need to wait until I miss school again and then sign up for classes. Maybe 1 or 2 classes a year. At least one semester off a year, probably summer since there usually aren’t that many courses offered.

Six classes left… So, let’s say I’ll finish by 2015. Whoa. Um. I’ll be 34. Let’s say a goal of 2012. 31 doesn’t feel nearly as far away. And it’ll definitely be something exciting for my 30s. I’m all negative about old people, but I’m so looking forward to my 30s. Much past that, I’m not so sure, but I have such high expectations for the awesomeness of being 30.

I think it’s ridiculously unfair that I have both insomnia and narcolepsy these days. How is this even possible?

I think it started last week when I finally rid my body of the influenza virus. I’ve been having some trouble sleeping, but it was mostly like 11-12 o’clock trouble. After I spent 2 days last week completely out of it, I was wide awake after pre-Thanksgiving. I stayed up progressively later each night, until Saturday night when I was up until 7am. This didn’t turn out too badly since I woke up at 11 and had a normal day. I got drowsy around 6, but willed myself to power through it by doing laundry and fidgeting a lot. And once I made it over the hump, I thought I would go to bed around 9 or so and get back on track. But no.

Once I made it through the drowsy period, I was awake. I stayed up and watched the Patriots and the Eagles play some sub-standard football. Not like bad football, but just not up to their usual standards. By that I mean Tom Brady had a less than stellar game. They still won, but not enough for me to get a fantasy football win. *sob*

Yenny suggested it might be my new meds. Which is possible… that doesn’t explain last week, but combine that with starting back up after taking a week off, and it might explain my self-perpetuating issue now. I hope I get used to this soon. The staying awake part is good. And I’m not tired in the morning — even get up before my alarm regularly now. It’s kind of scary. But it’s a little unsettling to be up at 1-2 in the morning on a weeknight, especially when I’ve been getting up early to catch the bus lately.

I’m afraid this might affect my sanity. You know, what little of it I have left…

QOTD: “The Internet: It isn’t just for porn any more.”

Yes, I’ve run out of things to blog about. Having a lazy day… I’ve earned it. =P

I don’t know if this is better or worse than the last time I took this a few years ago. I gained a low and a high. Totally phasing out those moderate issues.

I’ve been loving the library these past couple months, but I’m also finding myself not finishing very many books. I need something more along the lines of Netflix. I don’t mind having only one book out at a time, but I can’t be constrained to these timetables. I was doing pretty well the first few weeks finishing books within the allotted 3 weeks. But then I started putting new/popular books on hold, which meant that when my turn came around, I only had them for 2 weeks. This wasn’t too bad at first, but then I mis-timed some of the books and had a backlog. And with only 2 weeks, I wasn’t finishing or keeping up with all the reading. Not to mention I was also trying to be a little studious.

So the last few books I’ve borrowed, I haven’t finished. And I’m debating whether they were good enough to buy or if I should just put my name back on the list to borrow again. I feel … unwhole having so many unfinished books in my brain. But if a book isn’t interesting enough to finish within that time frame, is it worth spending the time reading? Should I just move on to something that will hold my attention? Do I just read too slowly? So many questions…

Got linked to a different version of the test from Lenny: Myers Briggs

E - 4
I - 14

S - 9
N - 10

T - 14
F - 9

J - 7
P - 7

Consensus: INTP.

The issue in the last category is that I like being organized with lists and schedules to facilitate multiple projects. I procrastinate, but will usually get things done on time in the end. It’s just not as important to me to stick to the actual schedule, just that I have a plan. The other test was more focused on the scheduling and deadlines aspect of things, so I was strongly J.

QOTD: “HOWEVER, don’t let me catch any of you talking about streamlines in a time-varying flow.”
Yeah, because I was totally gonna…

Somehow, Myers-Briggs came up at Thanksgiving #3. The past few times this was mentioned, there was discussion as to whether I was truly an INTP. I realized recently that a lot of my opinions have changed in the past few years. It’s especially noticeable when I think back to opinions I held in high school about relationships, socio-political issues, religion, and many other things. I have developed a lot of grays where they didn’t used to exist. So, in light of my intellectual transformation, I was open to the possibility that INTP no longer best describes me.

I re-took the test today and I came out as an INTJ. Very introverted still. Moderately intuitive, which I think is consistent. I’m moderately thinking, which I think is a decrease from before. I am learning the feeling thing and there were a few questions that were obvious to me that I would have answered differently 13 years ago. And moderately judging. That’s completely different for me and I have no idea what that means. I’m going to need to do more research.

EDIT: Added some links to descriptions. Item of note: Gandalf and Hannibal Lecter are INTJs.

The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one’s conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.

To me, this sounds more like I’m INTP. I’m really not understanding this change.

Strength of the preferences %
Introverted 78
Intuitive 50
Thinking 25
Judging 56

Got up early on my last day in Florida so I could make sure I had everything in order. I had printed out my boarding pass and extra stuff for class the night before.

I went swimming first thing, so I would have time to shower and get everything packed before my 10am checkout. The pool was fairly nice. It was early for vacationers, so I was swimming laps with an old guy for about 15-20 minutes before some other people showed up. Now, I understand people sometimes hang out in pools and goof off, but can’t they keep it contained? The other guy and I had been swimming along opposite walls of the pool, so when the new people jumped in, they were on my side. So, I scooched over and swam in the middle. Then the people moved from the corner to the middle of the length of the pool and more toward the center than near the wall. I had already tried to get out of their way. Now, I was swimming a question mark shape around them. They were just standing around talking. I got out pretty soon after that, followed by the other lap swimmer.

Got all clean, packed up, and checked out of my room. Dropped things off in my car (Oh! I rented a car all by myself for the first time. Ford Focus. So cute.), brought a book with me, and headed across the street to the beach. It was a little chilly and cloudy, but I got in an hour or so of lounging before I decided to walk around.

I think this is the first time I remember actually just wandering at the beach. The few times I remember going to the beach growing up, we were always doing something. Swimming or digging or building… And since then, I’ve only been at the beach for school or work. So this was new. I didn’t even know how to look for seashells or what I was looking for. I only started looking for them because I was kicking up sand as I walked (because the texture was cool) and I saw something shiny.

I started looking for shells and I knew I should also look for a rock to bring back for my dad. I found a shard of a red shell just as someone was walking past. He asked me if I was collecting rocks, so I held out my hand and showed him that no, I was looking for seashells. He immediately noticed the one unlike the others and complimented it. I told him that that was the only one I had been able to find so far. All the rest have been pretty similar, so he recommended I look closer to the water.

It was getting close to 11 when I decided that I had waited long enough and could decide where I wanted to eat lunch. I had walked about 4 blocks down the beach at this point and had my mind set on fish ‘n’ chips. I walked back toward where I started and searched in earnest for a place that looked like I could just get something quick. There weren’t many, but what I saw didn’t look very appetizing, so I decided that I’d rather have a nice meal before flying out than worry about how much sun I was going to miss.

And then I found it: Bubba Gump. It’s a chain, but a somewhat specialized one… They weren’t very busy and I got a good table outside with a view of the containerships passing by. And, I guess, good for people watching and stuff. Lunch was splendid, though I did feel a little self-conscious not ordering something with shrimp in it. Fish was flaky and fried just right, without a fishy taste and the tarter sauce was almost as good as Coastal Flat’s. Very enjoyable. Oh, and it turned out my waiter was from VA too. That made for about 30 seconds of smalltalk. After getting my fill of fish and tarter sauce, I crossed back over to the beach side of the street and went back to work in search of seashells.

Now, I knew I was coming to the beach. I knew that I would be checking out of my hotel before my last day at the beach. In all the extra stuff that I packed, I did not think to pack a towel. So, my concern was that I didn’t want to walk near the surf and have to deal with wet clothes for the rest of the day. But after lunch, it had gotten a little warmer and I figured it might be worth it for the pretty shells.

As it turned out, it didn’t make much difference. I didn’t get that wet and I didn’t find that many different shells than I had been. I did, however, see a lot of algea and jellyfish washed up on the beach. The jellyfish were a little disconcerting. And I was disturbed by the guys poking them with a stick. I thought only kids did that.

Anyway, I hung out for a couple more hours, made a stop at the post office, gas station, and then off to the airport! It was around when I got to the airport that I started feeling the tickle in my throat warning me of my inevitable illness. The rest was pretty uneventful, so I’ll skip it. I got back and went to Thanksgiving #1.

After the conference on Friday, I met up with some people for the VT alumni happy hour. Didn’t have a very big turnout, but it was fun. One of the guys had some amazing stories — designing yachts for the America’s Cup among others. The happy hour broke up pretty early so people could catch flights out to get home in time to watch the VT-Miami game the next day.

I headed back to my hotel and took to wandering the local neighborhood in search for some postcards. I found a touristy shop about a block away and bought postcards to my heart’s content. I was then so bold as to ask the cashier where I should go to check out the nightlife around there. He directed me a block up the street… to the shops around my hotel.

So, off I went, to wander the restaurants, bars, and shops. There were a couple of cute boutiques and stuff, but what caught my attention was what sounded like a karaoke bar. That seemed like a good place for some dinner and entertainment. So, I went in and two things immediately caught my attention: live band and they were all really good singers. This clearly can’t be a karaoke joint. Or can it? People keep just jumping on stage. But they’re playing the instruments and singing… And there are slips of paper to write down song requests. After the first 10 minutes or so, I figured out what was going on. There were about a dozen musicians who were playing in groups of 2 or 3 at a time — dueling pianos, guitars, a saxaphone… And they would switch out every song or two so they could take breaks or swap in people for specific songs. The entertainment far surpassed what I had been expecting, which was good… because the food was terrible.

Ducked out when they started Rocky Horror Picture Show and went downstairs to listen to another band playing Christmas music. It did seem a little early for it, especially in 70 degree weather, but I do love Christmas. Sat around and finished addressing and stamping my postcards until a couple of smokers set up camp next to me and I decided to call it a night.

This has been a weird year for me. I think I’ve grown closer to different people than I would have expected a year ago. And, well, not to others. I find myself grasping at old friendships now more than ever. Looking for that sense of familiarity and comfort.

I don’t really know where I was going with this. But things I am thankful for:
- Family, old and new — lots of new spouses and babies this year. Yeah, I know I’m all anti-babies, but they’ll grow into interactive humans some day.
- Friends. They can move away, but with the power of the Internets, they can never actually disappear. Even the ones who are local… I don’t get to see them as often as I should. And I’m thankful that my friends are of the variety that we always seem to pick up wherever we last left off. *Insert more sappy stuff here.*
- Getting over the flu. Thanks to my mom for sending me home last weekend with way too much food and soup. Thanks to Ian for getting me medicine and cookies and making sure there was always juice in the fridge.
- My shiny new library card.
- The new gym I have access to through work that will allow me to bike to work without being stinky all day. Now, I just need a bike…
- And the usual: home, job, etc. All the material things that let us enjoy the everything else.

First Thanksgiving was last Saturday before I got back from Florida. My family did their usual lunch thing, but with Thanksgivingier food than usual. I stopped by the parents’ on my way home and had some dinner with them. In retrospect, I maybe shouldn’t have stopped by. I hope they didn’t catch my disease. I was definitely in the prime of my contagiousness. It was interesting, as per the usual… my grandmother asking me personal questions, my father telling her not to ask, then my mother jumping in to tell me that things seemed so happy. I told them about the seashells I collected.

Tonight will be second Thanksgiving. My aunt is hosting an early Thanksgiving for all of us since my mother has decided to spend tomorrow with her other family. (Her father and siblings, not like a secret family that she has hidden from us for decades and is now not so secretly trying to reveal to us. That’s not the case at all. Clearly.) I don’t know what they’re all up to tomorrow, but tonight is the night for giving thanks.

Third Thanksgiving is going to be on Saturday after my mom gets back. I think it’s going to be the usual crew. Same as tonight except with my mom.

Also have tentative plans for a BFF get-together. It seems like it’s been ages since I’ve seen her.

This is the first year in a while that I haven’t had double Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving. Actually, this is the first year with no Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving. But 3 Thanksgivings spread out over the week isn’t too bad. And I get pie practically every day. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve been awake for over 2 hours now. I think that’s a record for me this week. That also means that I should be spending my time on the test that I got an extension on because I thought the influenza was going to kill me. It turns out that the flu doesn’t kill that many people anymore. I’m sure the Nyquil will help me find the answers I’m looking for. Why does everything look wavy?

Stupid Florida. Everyone agrees: I have the flu.

Uf. I blame the recycled air on the plane and not washing my hands enough after shaking 200+ people’s hands. Whine whine.

So many stories…

Thursday night, I went out to dinner at Mango’s with a bunch of guys who work at a model basin. Food was pretty good and we stuck around for the live band after. Everyone was pretty tired though, so we all decided to head back to our respective hotels when their parking meter was about to run out.

Friday, I got in to the conference pretty early and got a head start talking to the companies. I was sent on a mission by my boss to talk to one company who releases software similar to (but better than!) the one I use for most of my analyses. And as you could see yesterday, I also accomplished my mission to acquire a giant carabiner.

The most important lesson I learned from this trip is that a lot of companies have extra cool freebies that they hide from the masses. I went around and talked to every company, regardless if I had heard of them before or if they had any connection to what my company does. Some of these companies got looked over a lot. I was greeted once with, “You’re the first person to stop here in days!” Two-day conference. Sad. Anyhow, once they got started, some of these guys would talk for 5-10 minutes. And as a reward for being polite and not walking away, I got prizes! Flashlights, mugs, a hat, a pocket calculator/notepad thingy, a flashing lanyard, fancy keychains…

I had allocated time on the last day to make a final lap around the expo to catch the companies that I didn’t get to talk to the first time around instead of going to technical papers because there were a couple timeslots that didn’t interest me. Unfortunately, everyone started taking down their booths around 2, so I didn’t get the last-minute giveaways before they packed up their boxes to leave.

And it’s also a really good thing that I didn’t fill up my suitcase on the way here. I was barely able to fit everything in there to bring home. Don’t worry, it’s all getting home.

Also, something to keep in mind next time: swimming on the last day means packing a wet swimsuit to bring home.
Next: Postcards, dueling pianos, and my day at the beach.
Today’s entry brought to you by free wifi at the Ft. Lauderdale airport. Woo!