The Hobbit, and Other Adventures

Like most other college students across the country, I have been kicked out of my dorm for the days surrounding Christmas.  So, at home with no classes to attend or homework to do, I have turned to other forms of entertainment.

On Christmas day, my family and I went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in the theater.  To highlight exactly how momentous this occasion was, I’ll just mention that the last time I saw anything before it came out on DVD was over three years ago (Monsters vs. Aliens, in 3D, and before that, Finding Nemo in 2003).  The point of all this is that I don’t exactly frequent movie theaters with any sort of regularity, but The Hobbit was completely worth my three hours and pushing lunch to 3 o’clock (we went out for dim sum, so waiting for lunch was worth it too).

To avoid wrecking the movie for those who haven’t gotten the opportunity to see it, I won’t go into too much detail, but I will say that I enjoyed it.  The movie is slow by virtue of the fact that after 2 hours and 45 minutes, the dwarves and Bilbo haven’t even reached Mirkwood yet, but it didn't feel slow.  It’s also a lot lighter than The Lord of the Rings.

Inspired by the movie (and my general liking of anything that has to do with Tolkien’s Middle Earth), I have created some Hobbit themed bracelets in my abundant spare time.  Just go with me on this one.  Besides, it’s not too farfetched – green for the grass in the Shire and Bilbo’s door, blue for the sky, brown for the dirt and hobbit feet, yellow for the ring.

And finally, snow.  Through the entire months of November and December, Ithaca did not receive a single snowstorm.  We got occasional flurries, but no accumulation.  Back home, it appears we've been hit by about six to eight inches of snow, so I’m off to shovel.

One down, Seven to go

As of about a week ago, it's official: I have passed my first semester of college.

As a freshman engineering student as yet unaffiliated with any particular engineering major, I was enrolled in a fairly standard 16 credits over the past semester, as follows:

Multivariable Calculus for Engineers: Typical multivariable course, as far as I could tell, but apparently designed to ruin any engineer’s GPA within months of starting college with its median grade of a B.  Minus.

Honors General Chemistry: Another introductory class.  The highlights would have to be lab (minus the part where we were expected to get our results within 0.7% of the actual value or lose points) and the fact that our professor had a demo for almost every lecture.  To be fair, the lecture he missed was about quantum mechanics, and I guess he didn't have anything completely unrelated prepared.

Intro to Chemical Engineering: Not your average intro to engineering class.  Leave your textbook in your dorm room, but be sure to bring your colored pencils and ruler.  Besides working on process design, mass and energy balances, and dimensional analysis, drawing straight lines and color coding were strongly emphasized.

Memoir and Memory: Even as engineers, we are required to take (and pass) two first year writing seminars.  The best way to sum up my feelings about engineers and English class: It could have been worse.

Beginning swimming: Part of Cornell’s graduation requirements is passing the swim test: jump into the deep end of the pool, swim 25 yards on your front, 25 on your back, and 25 any way you want.  As of four months ago, I could swim on my front, but any movement on my back was more likely to attract the lifeguard’s attention than get me to pass the swim test.  So I signed up for beginning swimming, suffered the freezing pool twice a week, and picked up enough to pass the swim test.

Engineering 1050: I’m pretty sure this has an actual name, but what it comes down to was that once a week, we met with our engineering advisor to listen to presentations about stress and grades, get our questions about engineering activities and clubs answered, and occasionally do something more fun.  In the best meeting we had, we took a tour of the clock tower, and at the end, I got to actually play one of the notes in the hour bells.  Definitely ranks in the top five in the hypothetical list of “Cool things that have happened to me since I came to Cornell.”

And so, I have completed what potentially amounts to 12.5% of my undergraduate career, in terms of time spent at Cornell.  In terms of credits, it’s more like 12.2%.  In terms of – never mind; I’ll stop now.

Clarinets and Chemical Engineering

I've been considering the idea of starting a blog for awhile now, and finally decided to go through with it.  To start off: I'm a freshman engineering student at Cornell University (where the title of the blog comes from) planning to major in chemical engineering.  When I'm not working on problem sets or at office hours, I can usually be found with the pep band, hanging out with members of AAIV, or in the dining hall.  One of my better decisions since coming to college was to join the clarinet section of the Big Red Pep Band, and I have since spent more time at sporting events than in my First-Year Writing Seminar.  Within one semester, I have managed to play at field hockey, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and a men's lacrosse alumni dinner (I would have added soccer to that list, but I had a prelim on the same night as the game).

The other group that I'm part of is AAIV, short for Asian American InterVarsity.  AAIV is a Christian group with weekly large group meetings as well as various small groups that meet throughout the week.  The theme for the fall semester has been "What are you thirsty for?" and we've had speakers come to talk to us about being thirsty for love, purpose, success, and how these fit into a life that reflects the Christian faith.

Aside from school and band, I enjoy kayaking, hiking, camping, and most other activities that have to do with any combination of dirt, digging, and being outside.  I'm not sure how often I'll be posting, but hopefully whenever something exciting happens (being in Ithaca, without a car, exciting will mean something along the lines of visiting the Olin Hall distillation column or going to hockey games).  Anyway, I'm sure my nonexistent readership won't mind.