sheer potentiality

I’ve safely made it back to Pullman, where I will be taking summer classes for the next two months.

I’d forgotten how hot it is here during the summer. I am already sweating more than I have in months. Fortunately, the inside of my house here does a good job of keeping cool (and conversely, a poor job of keeping warm in the winter).

My month in Port Angeles was relaxing and refreshing, despite certain disappointments. Nonetheless, I anticipate enjoying the rest of the summer, especially if my UW transfer application is accepted.

Well that was a refreshing summer break. Now I’m back at WSU. No actual classes until next week, though, so until then I’m working on getting a part-time job and settling in in Pullman again.

Summer classes are over. I’m going home Saturday. I really can’t think of much more to write because “it’s over” pretty much summarizes all of the main threads in my life right now. The big group project I blogged about a couple days ago—it’s over. The personal issues I mentioned in the same post—they’re over, however abruptly so. I’m going to be 20 in a few days, so in essence my teenage years are thankfully over as well. So for those of you out there who want my life in summary, there it is.

It is incredible what the human body is capable of. I’ve been stressed and worried about things—a recent class project, various personal stuff—and my insomnia reached a fever pitch last night when I failed to get a minute of sleep and spent valuable sleeping hours watching television. (Damn you, HBO Signature Channel, for broadcasting a documentary about Stanley Kubrick!)

Anyway, from about 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM today, I had a team meeting for aforementioned class project. I was upbeat and energetic throughout. It was really quite amazing, I felt like I had more than a full day in me. Get back home, however, and I’m completely drained of energy.

The stress and insomnia and team meetings will all be over Tuesday. They will be over forever. And there’s really very little real work that remains to be completed between now and then.

Early tomorrow morning, I’m getting up, working on the paper, and getting ready for the presentation. The rest of my life will have to wait.

So here I am, sitting in my professional/technical writing class. Usually I’m acutely aware of being a vast minority for two reasons: one, I am usually the only person with a laptop (at least out of a sample size this small), and two, I am almost always the only longhaired man in the class.

Not only are there two other laptops in here as I speak, there are also two other longhaired men. Although, to be perfectly fair, both of them have their hair back in ponytails instead of loose like mine, but I always wonder what the point of long hair is if you just tie it back.

But man. In this class, the longhairs and laptop jockeys outnumber the iPods. I’m in an alternate reality, I swear.

“Steve” of Village Hampden critiques the totalitarian implications of Daylight Savings Time while Chris Dillow at Stumbling and Mumbling examines the financial costs of Daylight Savings.

(Found via Financial Rounds)

Well, I got my textbooks from Amazon today. A week after summer session began, but I didn’t need them till now anyway. Why did I order them from Amazon? Well, in terms of price, the experience, the convenience, and the idea of supporting a business pioneer instead of the textbook cartel, it’s better than my college bookstore. In fact, to make direct comparisons:

Amazon.com vs. my college bookstore: Amazon wins.

Amazon.com with express shipping vs. my college bookstore: Amazon wins.

Amazon.com with express shipping vs. my college bookstore with attractive, topless, women cashiers: Amazon wins, barely.

That is why I buy my textbooks from Amazon.com.

So just how much does Amazon.com rock? To the tune of $15, new, shipped for my accounting textbook on Amazon Marketplace (as opposed to $140 new from my college bookstore), and less than $50, shipped, for my philosophy books from Amazon itself. My philosophy books wouldn’t have cost that much more at the Bookie (yes, that’s what they call it), but then again, I didn’t have to stand in line.

Frankly, I don’t know why the Bookie is still in business.

As I suspected, taking two classes and working 20 hours a week feels a lot like being on summer vacation, only with slightly more obligations. I don’t even lose free time because I get up earlier to go to class. I suppose that makes my life a very good deal right now. I even have cable television again. I never missed TV, but now that I have it back it’s cool again! Well, maybe I’ll get tired of it.

Also, I enjoy my accounting class. Yes, it’s interesting. I never expected that, and it’s shocking! I want to go into business to win the game, not to keep score!