Casey's Blog

The first week of college has been intense. In fact there's so much to talk about I don't know where to begin this literary journey. I feel the need to create a simple summary of... three days. Three days may be too much, we'll see.

Monday: On Monday I attended the "Sophomore Reunion Boat Cruise". If I recall correctly there are about a hundred or some students. There were perhaps... twenty... maybe thirty of us. It was an awesome event consisting of food, some dancing, lots of socializing, and we were on a cruise ship boat thing. I don't know about you guys, but the last time I went on a free cruise ship boat thing... well I never went on a free cruise. I think you get the point.
I re-met some colleagues, talked to a new few and basically had a nice time. If more people attended it would've been that much better, but people are too busy (I understand) but some are definitely just not giving it a try, and that's not cool.

Wednesday: I know I skipped Tuesday, it's okay- I did nothing that day anyway. So on Wednesday classes officially started (le gasp). College is voluntary so people should really be enjoying college. I guess that isn't entirely true... given that there are required credits and all that. I think the freedom to choose which classes at what time was designed to give us an easier time and not a straight ticket to hell.
I am taking a physics + history kind of class, a class on environmental issues, and a class on architectural history. I like both of the classes, I only received a total of 3 handouts from all my classes. So far so good.

Thursday: That last class is at the Seattle campus and so there's a lot to talk about for that class... and how I got there by bus. I think I lost an hour (this includes the ride back) of my life looking like an idiot and realizing that the bus goes the other way. I went early so I can buy a U-Pass and get a feel of the campus. Apparently I need to purchase a U-Pass from Bothell and the campus is huge so it was rather tiring to walk back to my class after "looking around" a bit too far. The main campus was like a parade... there were people everywhere, it was scary. I wanted to go back to the other campus. The class though, it was good. It was an assembly... except everyone needed to listen to pass the uh, assembly that gives 3 credits after reading and listening for 20 more assemblies. I met some friends at the main campus blah blah.

Not much to complain about so far, all is well!

Hey folks, this entry in my blog is late and for no good reason. Seriously, I just didn't do it. I wasn't even doing anything productive last night. I was once fired for being honest, perhaps it will happen again. That would be a bummer, but seriously- I do apologize. I should've realized it was Friday night, the time of the week I usually write a blog entry.

Now that that's cleared (kind of) let's get on to more fascinating things in my life besides guilt. Let's see here... what is interesting in my life? Oh! Well for starters it would seem that some folks and I are going to start up a billiards club, so far we have 3 members and I think I know a few who would gladly join, making like 6- which I think may be enough for a club, though I hope there will be like 10-20 of us sometime in the near future. I want to have cake in my club. Yes, "The Cake of Exordium" I shall call it. Exordium means "the beginning" except it's very fancy and it's also fun to say. So if you want cake... you should join our club. You should also shoot some pool though, because it's good times and we'll probably be cracking "your mom" jokes along the way. I'm just joking, kind of.

So that is that and uh, during a a session of pool in the games room? What is that room called? There was another club that came in to have a meeting in the room which was the "Video Gaming Club" I think. Basically I think they talk about video games and play them, that sounds very interesting if you like video games and the fact that there is funding to support your hobby (if it's your hobby). Anyone reading a blog online would probably be interested in games. Hahaha I'm just kidding, that's stereotypical (or is it?). As much as I like games, I am a very selective person and I can't stand to play any games except like 3 of the best of the year due to the fact that my summer job involved game testing and I can't really blog about what I did there because I'll get fired, sued, and my life will be miserable.

So I finally got some homework from my class over at Seattle. One thing I noticed about big huge classes is that your grade in that course is determined by 4 things. Assignment 1, Assignment 2, Midterm, and Finals. Isn't that the saddest thing? What I'm saying is, there isn't much interaction with the professors or assistants because there's not much things to discuss in the course. It seems like it's a study, memorize, and test trifecta. I'm not too thrilled about this course anymore. This combination is like a death sentence for a procrastinator.

My other classes are more like high school, the way classes should be. Homework usually on a weekly basis, two or so projects, and two tests. There are also in-class discussions in case we didn't understand something (instead of appointing a meeting with a professor or assistant to ask questions). There's a huge difference between these two types of classes and to be honest, I'm learning a lot more here at the Bothell campus. I'm going to go visit the QSC (Quantitative Skills Center) to get some help next week because the guys in there are geniuses. Especially Bao Ming, we call him "The Master" because it's frightening how much he knows and how fast he works. I also need to utilize the Writing Center... because someone I know works there, and it's always fun to bother people you know, especially when you have a valid excuse to do so.

Yep, Veteran's day weekend. I wonder if we will still be celebrating this holiday a 100 years from now. If we have 3650 more wars in the future, does that mean we'll have an average of 10 holidays a day? There were indeed more wars in the past but I guess the societies have fallen and those holidays were long forgotten. In our new society where we're all connected I don't think it's possible for us to lose things like holidays... and even cellphones, computer chips, and newton's laws. Is it really possible for our society to stop existing? I am interested in how this could possibly happen but I am pretty darn sure that I won't be around when this happens one day.

This week has started off with a quiz; which I failed miserably. The quiz for my other class however, I did well. This may be because I am good in that subject or because I am already knowledgeable on the topic to begin with. Either way, you should be impressed that I got a good quiz score. As for my "other" class not at UWB, it's just more and more repetition... History is like a story, but architectural history is like remembering artists and what they made. However even worse is remembering when they were born and what they were made of and what kind of mechanics and techniques they used and then tying them all together. Does that comparison make sense? I just said art history was easy compared to architectural history because... it is. Really. I've actually taken art history as well; it was easier.

So after class I meet some random folks and sometimes I meet people from my highschool and that's something very interesting. Because at UWB it's like going to the same school but when you meet your friend at UW it's like meeting someone in a restaurant. You don't expect it.

We (as in myself and some other folks) are thinking of starting a billiards club. We basically meet up sometime around 3pm in the games room. The video game club is also in there around that time doing their thing so if you are interested in either one of our clubs, drop by, it'll be great fun. There will be mom jokes... and there will be some good ol fashion billiards playing. Personally I suck at it (though I can beat you). However some of our members are quite the masters. If you have any skill, it may prove to be a challenge.

Lately I have purchased a book called PLANT. It is exactly what it sounds like; it's a book about plants. Since I don't read much (which is ironic because I write) the book is basically a big book with photographs of various plants. Why do I need such a thing? The answer is simple, I draw. Nature happens to have the best examples of patterns and I think that studying plants, landscapes, animals, etc etc is a great way to understand how things work, grow, and check this out- "evolve". Fascinating! If you respect mother nature. Which you do- because if you don't you're a jerk, and jerks don't read what other people write anyway. Which means you aren't a jerk. Congratulations.

Hey folks, it would seem I forgot my password, which is why I couldn't update on Saturday. Fortunately I found it this morning and so here I am typing this.

So this awesome class which I need to do homework for, Intro to Journalism, is quite useful for anybody planning on write anything public (like I am doing right now). The textbook we use, Journalism: who, what, when, where, why and how , is about how to write stuff without getting sued. Of course I am kidding, there is a lot more depth than that. But to find out what those things are you should purchase the book because it's better at explaining Journalism than I am. This is probably because it has a bit more text than this blog entry.

So back to explaining why the class is so awesome. Our class is set up in a very interesting way. It is not a "follow the textbook" type of course. Our professor, David S. Goldstein Ph.D. lets us discuss and ponder the many details that go into journalism and he explains the many little things that he has picked up upon his journalisming adventures as well. Apparently I need to Xerox three copies of my article for tomorrow as some peers will critique it and stuff. It's going to be fun. Did you notice how I capitalized Xerox? Yeah, you need to capitalize Xerox, Xeroxed, Xeroxing, and Xeroxified (this last one... not so sure).

So for those who believe that you can "say whatever the hell you want" in a written publication I will warn you that it is not true because you are not allowed lower the reputation of other people and such. I am not a big fan of suing and won't really sue someone because of an insult, but it's good to know that having your reputation damaged by lies is sue-able material. I've been kind of writing quickly and rewriting sentences and such so I apologize if some of this made no sense.

Thanks for reading, and hooray for education and educated minds.
-Casey Yano

Is here. Yep, Spring Quarter 2008.

How was Spring Break? Too short? I too believe the same. In fact it was so short that one of my textbooks didn't arrive in time and I was forced to borrow it from the library to work on one of my assignments.

Wow that was great; I started my blog by complaining about how terrible our quarter system is set up. Oops. I am just kidding of course- it's not that bad... if you have the money to buy a brand spanking new version of your textbook from your bookstore. It's not like I saved 60% or more by purchasing my textbooks on the internet or something. No way- that is simply ludicrous.

One time I bought a used book it reeked of cigarettes. If you smoke that's not a big deal. But if you happen to have a chronic illness in the lungs... then it's quite serious. Maybe, probably, definitely.

Currently I am taking a class on Asian cultures and a class on philosophy and religion. The other class is over at Seattle- Design Drawing II. If it is anything like Design Drawing I, my life will be a mess.

Where is my camera? Where is my cameraaaaa- to be continued.

I think this is my second post this quarter and quite frankly it is already midterms. I know it is midterms because I have already taken two. Did I forget to write something last week? I am utterly confused. How can time fly by so fast? Let me check the date on the last post.... April 20. Okay so it's 9 days from then- That's odd... I guess I started late, and time is like- crazy.

Anywho, I have been doing some very interesting perspective drawing in my Design Drawing class. The process is so complicated that I don't want to explain it. Instead I will post a link to a tutorial.
This is that link: http://www.khulsey.com/perspective_2pt.html
This is a good tutorial... I wish I found it before I did my project.
It's too late. Now I'm onto light and light boxes with alphabet blocks, ping pong balls, and poker cards. This would make a lot of sense if I took a photography of my lightbox. But I can't. Because my camera is probably lost under one of these pile of papers. So much paper... I apologize to the god of trees. If there is one. There isn't? Well too bad- now there is. And I apologize to you, sir... ma'am?

Recently I have been reading the newspaper because I can multi task. This is because I need to chew while I eat. This chewing is not very hard and doesn't require my full and undivided attention, which lets me read the newspaper at the same time. The news seems to be littered with scary news. Rapists and 11 year olds, violence from video games, creator of LSD, things like that are all big topics in the newspaper. We live in a very scary world, is it really necessary to put such topics in the newspaper? How will this affect children? I can just imagine a 8 year old kid asking mommy, "What does LSD, rape, and murder stand for?"

Oh my.

Anyhow, that is just a question I was thinking after I watched Kill Bill vol. 1 and vol. 2. Because the Bride (Uma Thurman) was all, "I wanted to raise my child in a good environment." Because she's a hitma- er hitwoman and she found out she was pregnant and it was like- Oh noes! I can't have a baby and kill people at the same time! That is clearly wrong. And Bill was like, "How dare you run away and marry some prick in some safe environment and be pregnant and stuff!" So Bill, being the psycho boyfriend shoots her in the face and she dies... But! She lives (This isn't a spoiler as it's the first 2 minutes of the film) and so it's like- grr revenge, and that's the movie.

It was a very movietastic weekend for me. I saw Juno- yet another pregnant woman having a baby in a scary environment (Juno is 16). What a coincidence! It's as if they're the same movie! (of course not). Juno was more... indie-film-like. The movie is uh, good? Well it's kinda bad.... but it's good. Kind of. That makes no sense at all, I know- just see it for yourself.

I also saw Rain Man and Thank You for Smoking. That's 5 movies already- that's like 8 hours of my life staring at a screen, is that really healthy? Well it's probably healthier than typing about it. Once again I apologize for my lack of pretty pictures.