Below are the 7 most recent journal entries recorded in kalofoxfire's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006
11:13 am	C-Mail for 9/19 Let's start things off with some family conversations... Mom: You need to tone down the language in your e-mails. Me: Oh? Mom: Yeah*. If you're writing to your grandparents, words like monkey and waterslide aren't appropriate, even if you're just alluding to them. Use words like dang or darn or heck instead. Me: Okay. Don't use New York or deux. Got it. *This is paraphrased, in case you can't tell. I don't remember my mom ever saying Yeah, for example. Later on... Mom: You mentioned that you liked your psychology class? *SCENE MISSING* Mom: The career consulation thingy* you took a few years ago? The one that said you'd like being a librarian? Well, I looked at the results again, and psychology ranked pretty high up there on the list, as well. Me: Really? Interesting. *Paraphrased again, obviously. So I'm definitely going to have to ask my professor for a list of psychology career opportunities, and see if there are any there that interest me. Wait, wait, I have an even potatoeing better idea. I have to make a trip to the career center for my EXL class (and write a report about it), so I'll defenestrate two birds with one Yugoslavia. I'd like to once again mention kalofoxfire.livejournal.com . I'm putting up my old C-Mails there for your viewing pleasure. Speaking of which, I'm finding I'm glad I've been doing these. They're a lot like a journal. This all brings to mind one of those Beverly Cleary (or whoever wrote the Ramona Quimby series of books) books, where the guy started out writing letters to an author for a class assignment, and eventually moved on to writing letters to a 'Dear Mr. Fake Henshaw', and then eventually shifted into writing a regular journal. This is turning out to be a lot like that. Ah-ha! I underestimate my memory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Mr._Henshaw shows that I remember the books quite well, although he wrote to a 'Mr. Pretend Henshaw' instead of a 'Mr. Fake Henshaw'. Other than that, I got all the details right. ... Juxtaposition. I need to read this book again. The kid wanted to become a writer. The book is, like, surreally close to home. Anyway, I'm gonna stop now before I run out of stuff to write about. Next C-mail, I'm gonna write about the party I had Monday night, where I got people to try out a role-playing game. You know, one of those dice and paper things like Dungeons and Dragons. -Chris (Comment on this)
Monday, September 18th, 2006
12:17 pm	Something new I'm gonna try writing to this first, and then e-mailing it to my mailing list later. Gonna see if a change of scenery, so to speak, will help get those creative energies flowing. It turns out that I can edit the date on the entries I make. What this means is that I can put the C-mails I write in order, even if I don't post them to here in order. I can also write new stuff here without it getting mixed in with the old stuff. I can also go back and edit what I've written, so I don't have to write the whole thing in one sitting anymore. Like, I can just click on the 'post' button right now, and then I (Comment on this)
12:09 pm	C-Mail for 9/20 Things are going much better. Nobody's picking on me anymore... For those that have been asking, what had happened was that people started banging on my door and running away. I can't think of anything else right now... (Comment on this)
12:07 pm	C-Mail for 9/19 The event on Saturday didn't go well... I'd rather not talk about it yet... I wish I could say something more positive about how dorm life is going... but it seems that some people have found out how much fun it is to pick on me. No, I have it sorted out, I am handling it myself, yes, I did get the RA's help, no, I am an adult now, no, please do not call me with advice, yes, if you do call me I will politely tell you that if I don't start handling my problems on my own now then I never will and then hang up and go eat something unhealthy because I'll be upset. Perhaps that was a bit of a run-on paragraph... to clarify, I am handling it myself. I am okay. Do not call me with advice. Well... I am almost handling it okay. I did get so mad I tried to break the vaccuum... it still works, though. I'm sorry this e-mail was kind of depressing. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, September 16th, 2005
12:05 pm	C-Mail for 9/16 First, a gentle reminder. Saturday is OFF-LIMITS for anything involving me. See previous C-mails for details. I've been telling everyone about this for weeks now... Anyway, I have my calculus test from yesterday back. I scored 84/100, which is better than I thought I did. Here are the questions I missed... 1. Determine whether the graph of f(x)=1/(5x-2x^3) is even (symmetric about the y-axis), odd (symmetric about the origin), or neither. 20. This one is pretty long, involving about 3 different greek letters and a limit function. I'm not sure how to translate either of those into text, so I'll just move on to the next one. 21. See 20. 23. Evaluate the following; e^ln7 For 1, I put even (the correct answer was odd), and I ran out of time before I could figure out 20, 21, and 23. I got the rest of the test correct. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention, I have an hour before my next class (math with maple) starts. The problem is, it's right next door. No, wait, did I mix those two up? Yeah, I think I did. Let me try again... My next class is right next door, literally. In fact, it might technically be in the same room, since the wall between them looks like it can be slid open to make one giant room instead of two regular-sized ones. The problem is, though, that my next class doesn't start until an hour after the previous one finishes... so I usually sit out in the hall and play game boy-I mean study! I usually sit out in the hall and study for about an hour. But I checked with my teacher today, and since there doesn't seem to be a class for that time in this room, I can now spend that hour with an internet connection, and read online comics-I mean research! Yeah, research. My point is, I now have extra time to spend writing C-Mails on Monday and Friday. They will go out a bit later than the Tuesday through Thursday C-mails, but will be considerably longer. If C-Mail was a newspaper, Monday and Friday would be the Sunday edition(s). That being said, I'll try to put important things at the beginning of the C-Mail, and save my ramblings and such for later in the C-Mail. Feel free to just read the first few paragraphs if you're short on time or tired of listening (reading?) to me ramble on. Okay... let's see... Ah, I'll talk about food first. At FSC, all first-year students have to take the meal plan they offer. This, according to what I've been told, is to assure the parents that their kids will have breakfast. I probably misquoted that, but whatever. The meal plan is that you get 20 'swipes' per week, and 75 'moc-bucks' per semester. The moc-bucks are simple to understand: they're just like money. 1 moc-buck equals 1 regular dollar. You can use them to buy stuff at the deli or Taco Bell located near the food-court, or shop at the Moc-Mart, which is like a gas station without the gas. No, that's not quite true, gas stations have a better selection. And prices. The swipes are a bit more complicated... You get 20 swipes per week. The main usage of swipes is to enter the cafeteria... 1 swipe gets you entrance to the all-you-can-eat style cafeteria. The reason you get 20 instead of 21 is that people tend to sleep in on the weekends and miss breakfast. Another usage of swipes is to buy stuff at the deli, Taco Bell, or Moc-Mart. Each swipe you use is worth $3.30, just enough to buy a value meal at Taco Bell, for example. You can trade in multiple swipes at once, or make a purchase using both swipes and moc-bucks. For example, if you buy two 2-liters of soda, the total comes out to about $3.60. Instead of using 2 $3.30 swipes (and wasting about $3), you can use 1 swipe and $.30 in moc-bucks. My hands are getting tired... I'm going to stop for now. ~Chris/Kalo/Scriber (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 15th, 2005
12:03 pm	C-Mail for 9/15 I have my first Calculus test today, so if this e-mail cuts off suddenly, it's because class has started and I need to start paying attention. Okay, first off, thanks for your responses, everyone. I am getting your replies on this computer, so don't worry. Yahoo Mail is web-based, so it works anywhere there is a web-connection. Just a reminder, I have a big event coming up in the online game I play. It starts late afternoon Saturday, and continues for the rest of the day. My team really needs me for this, and we have several months worth of work on the line, so PLEASE don't schedule anything involving me on saturday. This event is VERY important to me. I think I have time for just a bit more... my new computer is still working. And although I hate to sound so pessimistic, here's what I still need to fix about it... 1. Get the right windows CD, instead of the semi-illegal copy I'm using. 2. Reconnect the floppy drive. 3. Download and install a 'DVD decoder'. It is required to play DVDs on a computer, and for some unknown reason does not come with Windows. 4. The graphics card says it isn't getting enough power, and has underclocked itself. (Definition: Underclocked: Performing below specifications. Similar to the more common term Overclocked, in which the hardware is set to perform above the reccommended safe level. As overclocking may lead to system damage, it is not reccommended unless you know what you're doing.) Oops, gotta run. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 14th, 2005
11:57 am	C-Mail for 9/14 C-Mail is the name of this daily personal newsletter, in case you were wondering. Anyway, first up, my weekly schedule. Lots of people have been asking about this, and I haven't been getting it to them, so... Monday: Calculus, Maple, XL Tuesday: Calculus, Government, VBasic, English Wednesday: Calculus Thursday: Same as Tuesday Friday: Same as Monday And here are some quick details about each class... Calculus: My first class of the day, every day. This is the one I have to get up early for. So far, there hasn't been anything too complicated... it seems to be mostly review at this point. Mostly, anyway. Uses computers and Maple, see 'Maple' below. Maple: Short for Math With Maple. Maple is a computer program that is similar to a calculator on steroids after being worked on by a mad scientist. Regular calculators are prohibited in this class, you either learn to use Maple or get used to doing complex equations by hand. Uses computers. Interesting fact: This is literally right next door to Calculus, so I don't have very far to walk. XL: Short for Examined Life. One of the freshmen required courses, this is basically a combination of homeroom and college life skills (time management etc), with your choice of 'theme' to fill in the gaps and make it more exciting. My XL class is the 'Samurai Spirit'. Interesting fact: All of my classes for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday take place in the same building (Polk Science) Government: Short for State and Local Government. This is the class I... well, it's easier to show than explain... (Dramatisized) *RING RING* Dad: Hello? Me: Hi, dad! I have this weird assignment for Government class... Dad: Yes? Me: I'm in class right now... the assignment is to call someone we know on our cell phones and ask them a question. Dad: (I forget what he said at this point in the conversation) Me: The question is... what is the most important function of a state goverment? Dad: Law enforcement. Me: Okay, thanks! (A few moments of small talk follow) That was a real assignment. Well, it was an optional assignment, but who's going to turn down the chance to use their cell phones during class? Anyway, the answers we got were written on the board and then discussed. VBasic: Short for Visual Basic. My favorite class. I'll save the details for my next C-Mail. English: Short for Effective Writing. Basic freshman english. Not a whole lot to tell yet. Okay, one final thing. Guess what I did yesterday? ... Oh, wait, you can't answer. This is an e-mail, not a phone call. Anyway, I gave blood! The bloodmobile was on campus, I had some time between classes, so I said 'Why not?' and went and gave. It was far, far less painful than I'd expected, and I didn't even have to see any blood! Admittedly, I had my eyes closed for some parts, but still. After I gave, the volunteer nurse told me "You've just saved three lives." Let me tell you, hearing that felt GREAT. It made the whole thing worth it right there. Anyway, I have a theory about why it's important to give blood after a crisis like Katrina, even if the crisis is really far away. The theory is that although the blood you give might not be express shipped to the crisis area, it's still needed. Let's say there are three cities in a line, city A, B, and C. Each city has a blood bank. Blood can be transferred between cities A and B, or B and C. Moving it further spoils it, making it unusable. City C suffers an earthquake, collapsing a crowded theater and injuring many people. City C suffers a blood shortage. Blood from City B is transferred to City C for emergency transfusions. However, this puts City B in danger of a blood shortage as well, so blood from City A is moved to City B. Even though the earthquake might be several states away, City A's blood supply has been affected. Now, let's say that Godzilla attacks City A for a while, before rechecking his map and heading off to Tokyo, embarrassed. Normally, City A's blood supply, combined with transfers from nearby cities, would be enough. But due to the earthquake in City C, there is now a shortage. I imagine there's an economic model or something that could explain this better than I can. Maybe something like if gas stations in Oregon suffer spontaneous combustion, gas prices in Florida go up. It seems like EVERYTHING causes gas prices to go up these days, though... I think I've rambled on long enough now. ~Chris/Kalo/Scriber (Comment on this)