BBQ and Buckling Down

                It’s hard to believe I’ve already been here a month – a quarter of the way done, and even further along if we don’t count the weird time between Thanksgiving and finals. On the one hand, it’s like I never left. I’m not constantly running, but I get up early and go to bed later, so the days seem slow. Especially when I’m looking forward to my end-of-week treat, the weeks seem to take forever to pass. And yet it’s flying by; I have so many longer-term things to finish before I’m out of college and out into the real world, after all these years.

                Shorter term, things are going smoothly. Midterms are coming up, so this weekend will be spent studying. I have a history paper due as well that I still need to edit. In Logic, I’ve been having trouble because between all the rushing back and forth, I keep mis-copying problems or skipping parts, even though I do well enough when I actually read the question correctly. I just need to recheck the details more, but details aren’t really my thing, and especially when I’m feeling lazy, it takes an awful lot of willpower to keep going back over the little things.

                My extra-curriculars are going fine. ROTC went much more smoothly this week; if this keeps up, my job will be a lot simpler than I expected. It’s pretty simple being in charge of discipline as long as no one is causing major problems. In FUEL, I’m still experimenting with new formats; this past week I read Psalm 23 in Hebrew with piano in the background, and I think it went well. And in LIFE Group we’re going through Philippians, which is probably my favorite book of the Bible, so I have that to look forward to on Wednesday afternoons after a long morning of ROTC and class.

                I did have quite a bit of ROTC this week. We had the Joint Service Field Meet yesterday at MIT, so I played dodgeball for the fourth and final year and managed to get smacked in the face with a ball (I was the only one left on the court; it was hard to miss me). It sounded like everyone enjoyed it, though, and we finished an hour early, so I’m not complaining. Because that took up Wednesday morning, we had a lab on diet and exercise on Tuesday morning. The talks were very practical and in-depth, although being me, I’ve already done all my homework, so there wasn’t much new to learn in a generalized talk.

Also for ROTC, last Sunday we had a Battalion BBQ on the river to help everyone get to know each other. Fortunately, the weather was nice; it’s turned cold and rainy since – perfect weather for curling up with hot loose leaf tea and studying for midterms, which I plan to do this weekend. I did briefly delve back into Netflix, which I haven’t used in a while, to watch some episodes of Supergirl. I was hoping a female superhero would boost my workout motivation, but her superpower appears to be binge-eating pizza and donuts every episode without gaining any weight, which isn’t helpful.

The one other long-term project I’m quite focused on at the moment is my thesis planning. We had our first official writing workshop meeting on Tuesday to discuss our plans, but everyone else was doing more government or sociology-related topics, and when I tried to explain my very non-linear philosophical reasoning, everyone just looked confused. Hopefully I can get my epiphanies into communicable form before I need to turn anything in.

So that’s my life right now; as you can see, I have a very exciting weekend planned, but I do plan to enjoy it. Also, Rosh Hashana is coming up, so a few of my classes are cancelled on Monday, which gives me more wiggle room. (The ‘o’ in rosh is pronounced with a tall o, as in pope, by the way, and for any DC Comics fans, it means head, from the same Semitic root as the Arabic ‘Ra’s’ in Ra’s al Ghul – which is also always pronounced wrong.)

Have a lovely rest of the month, and I’ll talk to you in October!

Pictures: I don't have as many this week; I haven't been to many new places. I did go back to Fresh Pond, though.

 One of the nice things about later appointments is that I get to watch the sunset over the church steeples on my way home.

 This sidewalk appeared sometime over the summer, but it's certainly preferable to the blind turn that preceded it.

Our grill masters, hard at work:

 A quiet night of study:

 Sometimes I walking and I just have to stop for a moment and enjoy the beauty.

Semester Stressors

Well, I had a very stressful weekend, but things have gotten progressively better since Monday, so I’m hoping that trend continues. Where to begin?

One of the things I’m wrestling with is my schedule; as I mentioned last week, it doesn’t leave much time for focused study, which is a large part of my workload this semester. In addition, most of what used to be my independent study time has been rolled into workout time, so I’m not making much progress there yet, either. Which means that weekends become my main study/work days, and so can feel rather burdensome.

Then, on Friday, when I was stressing about studying and several ROTC responsibilities I had coming up (which turned out to take most of the weekend to get done correctly), I got a call from my parents. I don’t know how many of you had the chance to meet our dog, Zoey, but we had to put her down last Friday. When I was growing up, she was ‘my dog,’ and we all felt a little like her passing was also a goodbye to my childhood. So that was a difficult day, and I still had work to do.

Between that, and extra-curriculars needing to be redone and redone, and a large list of assignments that just had to be slogged through for most of Saturday and Sunday, I was feeling pretty down by Sunday night, and while attempting to finish my problem set for logic, I ended up crying. (I know; I cry quite a lot, actually. It’s very cathartic; I occasionally even force myself to cry, as it usually rebalances my hormones and lets me go back to being productive.)

And then, somehow, I felt better. Whether it was the fact that I’d let it out, or one of my favorite songs coming up on my laptop, or the fact that I managed to reach a much easier part of the pset, things have been getting better since. And I know I’m not the only one having trouble; I spent a large part of my weekend going through and compiling the Situation Reports for everyone in ROTC – basically, a list of questions to see how they’re doing – and the first few weeks of school are hitting most people pretty hard. It usually gets better after this, though.

Christian Impact is going well. I led LIFE Group yesterday and shared my life story (and of course brought snacks) and had the chance to meet a couple new people. I also led worship on Tuesday night; we sang “Deep and Wide” as a kid’s song in the middle, which was my idea, and everyone seemed to like it. As a bonus, our guest speaker correctly used the word ‘contrapositively,’ which made me pretty happy.

Quick logic lesson: the contrapositive means that if “if p then q” is true, then “if not q, then not p” is also true, and vice versa. That is, if you know that if it’s Friday night, I’ll be at the movies, you know that if I’m not at the movies, it’s not Friday night. But, “if p then q” doesn’t imply “if not p, then not q” – if it’s not Friday night, it doesn’t follow that I’m not at the movies; I might go every night. So there’s your dose of analytic philosophy for the day.

I was happy to receive yet another care package from my mother this week, containing all sorts of healthy treats. I’ve expanded my taste for cooked vegetables a great deal since coming back to Harvard; I didn’t like them much before, but now most of them taste great (can’t bring myself to like kelp, though). I’m also happy that the protein powder I ordered online has arrived; it was cheap, and it tastes like hot chocolate. I’ve started a new workout routine that targets muscles much more specifically than the one I was following before – never have I been so tired after so short a workout. So things are looking up on that front, too.

Good luck to everyone else still trying to settle into the semester, and I’ll talk to you all again next week!

Pictures: the leaves are starting to fall. This is near my dorm.

 The Charles River

 I'm not sure why they decided to put the only full-length mirrors in the hallway; I guess it's something to do while you wait for the elevator or make your way to the stairs.

 We had LIFE Group above the freshman dining hall - so many memories!

 A cloudy day, perfect for staying in and studying:

 This stuffed bear has been on the roof outside my dorm since he beginning of the year; I'm not sure how it got there.

Start-Ups and Sit-Ups

The weeks are going by both more quickly and more slowly than I expected. My schedule is much more fragmented than I would like – instead of a bunch of class and then a bunch of study time, I have a couple of hours here, an hour there, and appointments all over the place. This means that 1) the time in between appointments drags on, because I can’t get too involved in anything, and 2) deadlines come up really quickly, because I have so little concentrated time for academic study/work, be that papers, independent study, or my thesis.

One of the main scheduling hassles every semester is the discussion sections that are often added onto lecture classes. The sections are scheduled after everyone has enrolled in the classes, and they aren’t scheduled at the same time as the class or even always during business hours, which means they have a tendency to unravel whatever schedule you’ve come up with in the first few weeks. Still, it’s a chance to actually discuss the lecture material and ask questions of the TAs and TFs, and occasionally there’s food.

During my two sections today, the thing that struck me most was how relatively old I was. Because outside of my concentration classes, I’m taking general education requirements, I’m suddenly one of the only seniors in the room. From this side you can often differentiate students by class just by watching them: the nervous, anxious-to-please freshmen, the tired sophomores in the background, the confident juniors, and the seniors who never arrive more than 30 seconds before class starts.

Sections weren’t the only thing that started this week. I’m attempting to revamp the format of worship team for Christian Impact, so we’re bringing in new songs and I’m reorganizing the way practices are run. So far, it seems to be doing well. We don’t have a sound system, but the instrumentalists are great, and we have a good time. I accidentally got up and started singing the songs in the wrong order on Tuesday night, but we got through it.

We also started Christian Impact Life Group this week. A few people couldn’t come, so we ended up with a smaller subset of our Life Group from last year, which actually worked out well; instead of doing the normal icebreaker activities, we just sat and chatted about how we were doing (and may have briefly been derailed into an argument on whether Massachusetts should regulate shopping bag usage). There was ice cream, too, but I resisted the temptation; I’m trying my hardest to be extremely good for at least another couple of weeks.

To that end, I’ve also made sure to make time for working out almost every day. It’s become my stress-reliever, especially with nothing new to watch on Netflix, and I was pleasantly surprised to see my efforts bear fruit during our ROTC Physical Fitness Test (PFT). I was nervous about the test (I always am, even though I always pass with flying colors), but I blew it out of the water – without extreme effort on my part, my run time for the 1.5 mile had dropped by over a minute! Here’s hoping I can keep up the fitness for the rest – well, the rest of my life, really.

The one other thing that’s started this week was cooler weather; we’re having really beautiful days at the moment (thus all the nature pictures). However, the weather was kind enough to give us a hot, rainy day for the freshmen’s first day in uniform, as per usual.

So overall, I’ve been less productive than I’d like as per academics – my current exciting new project is fitness, when it would ideally be my thesis, but I can’t control what I’m excited about – but everything is slowly getting there, and hopefully this weekend I can take some time to knock out a bunch of this study. I have a lot of bumps and bruises from trying new exercises and generally being uncoordinated, but I feel great. And the longer I’m here, the more friends I have to run into wherever I go. It’s a good start, I think.

Pictures: 

Being good is hard...

But it pays off.

 Ready to head to church:

 The weather has been absolutely beautiful.

 Science Center Plaza:

 Sunrise over Cambridge (on the way to ROTC):

 Home sweet Quad:

 Scattered showers can be annoying, but rain clouds make for great pictures!

Until next week!

Ups and Downs

                Hello, everyone. I’m sorry this is so late again; it has been quite a hectic week. No one thing has been particularly hard, but I’m starting up a bunch of activities at once, so I’ve been running around in ten different directions the majority of the time. It looks like the end of the week is going to be a little calmer, though, so hopefully I’ll have time to fit in all my studying.

                Because I’m only taking three classes at Harvard, not counting my thesis, class has actually taken up very little of my time and concentration thus far. I do like my classes, but it’s hard to keep track of your progress when most of the work consists solely of reading. I need to set the ball rolling on my thesis fairly soon as well – another project for the weekend – but that’s much less structured and thus, in my opinion, more enjoyable. As it turns out, I’ll also have to do independent study for German – the class isn’t offered this semester – so I’m still trying to find a way to track that.

                A much larger part of my week has been taking over major leadership positions in both Christian Impact and ROTC, and that familiar feeling of being in charge when everything goes haywire. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy being in charge of things. I think it’s the satisfaction of being able to organize something efficiently and execute it well that I find so appealing. Still, last-minute changes and unexpected obstacles will always raise the stress level. Everything turned out fine, though, and I don’t stress nearly as much as I used to about these sorts of things.

My workouts are going decently; of course, the hard part is always eating right. Harvard dining, in my opinion, has a much greater talent for desserts than for vegetables – but maybe I’m just biased toward desserts in the first place (aren’t we all). Not eating makes me a little grumpy, but workouts, unlike classes, give quantifiable results, so my fitness program is both stress-relieving and satisfying. One minor inconvenience: I tend to destroy my shoes every semester, so I have several new pairs that weren’t designed for rushing around from one crisis to another, with result that one of my ankles is a little swollen and my heels are pretty much destroyed. They’re being good sports about it, though.

My microwave and mini-fridge finally arrived yesterday, which added a lot of convenience to my life. I’ve also received many, many much-needed boxes from my parents – I need more stuff every year – and a lovely gift from a friend (thanks, Bekah!). I’ve also found a small mom-and-pop grocery store close to the Quad with a much better selection of tea than CVS, so my room is becoming homier all the time. Not only that, but it’s now cooled off enough that I can put bedding on my bed and sleep like a normal person, which is very exciting.

I’m not going to lie; it’s been a week of ups and downs. There were bright points but also crying sessions, and the roller coaster effect is amplified by the calorie deficit and sleep reduction. I am still getting up at five; not only do I not mind it anymore, but I positively enjoy it. When I’m worried about things, though, I have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night, so I’ve been having a hard time getting all my hours in. Don’t worry; I’m getting lots of antioxidants from my vitamin C supplement and green tea!

But overall, despite the occasional outburst that makes me wonder if I’ve really matured at all over the last four years, the semester is starting off well. Things are still a little in flux, so I won’t have the full picture of the semester until probably next week, but at the moment, I’m optimistic. Here’s to another week of self-improvement and the best year of school yet!

Pictures: I've been trying to get this delivered since I got here - success!

On my way to class on a beautiful morning:

The familiar face of Harvard Square:

And more of Cambridge:

This cemetery is from the 1600s and has some important people in it, but I mainly think of it as a shuttle stop.

This might look like just a patch of grass, but for the past three years or so this has been a mud slough surrounded by various levels of construction equipment. Being able to see to the other side is very exciting.

Home sweet home:

Until next week!

Plans and Prospects

                I sometimes have trouble experiencing the called-for emotions that certain life events and stages are supposed to evoke, but this year I definitely feel like a senior. Watching all the freshmen come in, confused and carried away and very anxious to please, I realize just how far I’ve come. Now I’m the one giving advice and directions and (quasi-) wise counsel.

                I don’t know how many people shared my college experience, but I don’t think it’s uncommon. Freshmen year, I was doing hard things and studying all the time. Sophomore year (the half that wasn’t study abroad) I was doing about the same, not so much because I was excited, but because I needed to get it done. Freshmen year was overwhelming. Sophomore year was – well, kind of drudgery for a while there. Both leave the image of a bleak, gray existence – always winter and never Christmas.

                Study abroad turned everything upside-down, and that summer was the turning point. My junior year was full of sunshine and smiles and friends; I wasn’t afraid to take easier classes, and I was putting more effort into fewer extra-curriculars. Each stage of school for me has been the same – neutral to glum for the first year or so, but progressively better, until the final years were some of the best of my life.* So it’s been here – at least, I hope the trend continues, but so far I seem on track for a good, not-too-stressful year.

                Why am I in such a cheery mood? Well, for one, I just got my grades back from my summer courses – Pass with Honors and an A+ in my business courses and seminary course, respectively. More generally, though, I once again have a single room to myself, but this time it’s the size of a double – two closets, two windows, and lots of space. Also, I’ve finally learned a little homemaking, so I have my loose leaf tea and my tables and my decoration and my books to keep me company. The only thing that I don’t have is air conditioning, but it’s usually not a problem after the first couple of weeks. At the moment, I’m just sleeping without bedding and with the windows open.

                What am I up to for the semester? Well, for Harvard, I’m taking my thesis tutorial (more details later), logic (very math-intensive), American Government (general education requirement), and Roman Empire (because apparently, despite my major in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard thinks I lack exposure to classes on “Societies of the World”). I may also be auditing a German class – that’s still in the works. In ROTC, I’m taking advanced Navigation with the rest of the seniors, and for Seminary I’m taking Old Testament. I’m excited; it may sound like a lot, but I think it’s a good level of challenge. The spring semester should be a little easier.

                Besides classes, I’m taking on my role in ROTC as Command Master Chief, overseeing discipline and morale. ROTC doesn’t start until next week, so I’m not sure how much time that’s going to take. And in Christian Impact, I’m both leading the Worship Team (which has already kicked off, and for which I have many plans) and co-leading a LIFE Group (which will start in a week or two). I’m pretty excited about those, as well. And finally, over the summer I finally had time to get into a serious workout routine; I’m fitter now than I think I’ve ever been in my life. So I intend to keep working on that.

Overall, then, the year looks like it will hold little in the way of drudgery and much in the way of exciting plans and responsibilities. It’s possible I’ll look over this in a couple of months and laugh ironically – ‘if I’d only known’ – but at the moment, it seems like this last year of school might be the best yet. I’ll keep you posted!

*Obviously, these are generalizations, but if you want to look up the primary sources, my weekly journal is right here!

Pictures: I wasn't able to get my summer photos to load for my last post (thank you to my parents for filling the gap with theirs), so they're included here, too, which makes for - well, a lot, so enjoy!

San Diego:

 The Mexican food was amazing...

 As was the base gym.

 My gear all packed away inside my bunk (the top of the bed opens up for storage space):

 A friend and I went to the zoo while in port (free with a military ID).

 And of course there's the beach.

 Friends:

 Ready for a helicopter ride:

 Watching them test the guns:

 Underway Replenishment (UNREP):

 This is the day after I got my wisdom teeth out, by the way - you can see some swelling.

 Family vacation in the Grand Tetons:

 Cousins in town for my grandparents' anniversary:

 Sorry, these pictures aren't exactly in order... This is getting 5 of the 6 of us assigned to the nuclear section, waiting for the jet to take us back to California (it was about an hour late, so we had plenty of time for pictures).

 And we're back in Wyoming.

 This is one of my personal favorites.

 At the airport before I leave for my senior year at Harvard:

 Fresh Pond in a warm and sunny Cambridge (for now...):

 Okay, what you've probably been waiting for. I saved the best for last: room pictures!

 The tables are from packing boxes; I still had to throw a few away. Almost all of the tea supplies I obtained in the last couple of weeks, and I'm very happy about them.

 Hi from Harvard! Until next time!