Post by Noah on Feb 13, 2006 14:52:31 GMT -5
For Shame, Central Intelligence.
Every day I check this website, and every day there are no new updates.
This forum was meant for us to stay in touch. And maybe all of you don't have the same amount of free time that I do right now (I would actually seriously doubt it). But in any case, instead of being part of the problem, I'll be part of the solution.
This isn't a blog entry, because I'm not in Australia yet.
So, I left campus on Wednesday afternoon. I didn't really like the idea of going. I'm really excited about studying in Australia, I'm really excited about all of the new opportunities that I'll have and all of the cool people that I'll meet, but it's really hard to leave all of your close friends at once. It's kind of weird how close you can become with people in just 2 years, or even less. But I guess it's the truth.
I got home on Wednesday night after some minor flight problems (my streak of flying with hassle is going strong). It was nice to see the parents and the dogs, but I went to bed pretty quickly. There isn't much to do here. Not even Seaby is around, on account of him transferring to ISU and all. So, sleeping is a popular activity.
Thursday was pretty much a throw-away day. I stayed around the house taking care of some last-minute business before I leave the country. It's actually pretty amazing how much "stuff" there is to do before you go abroad. And stuff besides getting a visa and arranging classes and all that jazz (even though Dean Kanach is a bitch and still hasn't given me an answer about Marine Neurobiology yet). I had limited success in my efforts to accomplish anything. After all, how much can you really expect to get done when the day starts at 1:30?
Friday, I decided to be more productive. I went out and took care of a bunch of errands. The first stop was Best Buy, where I bought a new case for my new camera (I'll be sure to post pictures somewhere-or-other and let you know where to find them once I have some pictures to post) and some new headphones. I also tried to talk to the customer service rep about the fact that I was missing Disc 3 from my Futurama Season 1 DVDs. He was all like "You need a receipt" and I was all like "It was a gift, I don't have a receipt" so he was all like "You can call the corporate office and see what they say" so I was all like "Stop jerking me around, asshole. Where's Disc 3?" and he's all like "Hey, man, it's cool, back off." So naturally I pulled my knife on that fucker. Long story short, I didn't get the Disc, but the replacement is on its way.
After Best Buy, I stopped by a luggage store in search of some travel adapters for my electronic devices. I picked up some sweet-looking Australian adapters with a crazy plug arrangement, so as soon as I land, I can be online and listening to music. Excellent.
Last stop on Friday? Wal-Mart. I will admit that I felt bad going in, what with all of the negative press lately about how they treat their employees and how they drive out small businesses. But I needed some little, cheap, stuff, and it was right near where I was, so I decided to stop in. Mission successful.
Friday night my Mom cooked some delicious salmon. It's nice to have home-cooked food. As much as we talk about the great food that the clubs provide, nothing will ever match up to a dinner made by Mom.
Saturday, I went with my parents into Chicago. My brother and his girlfriend just moved into this VERY nice apartment in Wicker Park, so we went to visit them. Getting into the city was a bitch. Normally the drive only takes about 45 minutes to an hour, but because of the fucking AUTO SHOW, it took twice as long. Who the fuck wants to go look at cars anyway? Drive up to Detroit, rednecks. Anyway, my brother's apartment is well-decorated (his girlfriend works in a furniture store), and it's strange to see him living like a real grown-up. We spent some time walking around his new neighborhood and looking at the chic and independently-owned stores. It was fun, but cold. I packed clothes for Australia when I came home, and it only gets down to about 50 there. So, this Chicago winter is sort of kicking my ass, and I'm always freezing. At night, the 5 of us went to dinner at a new-age Italian place. It was tastey. Good night overall.
Yesterday (Sunday), it was back to errands. This time I hit up the library to get some guidebooks on Australia (you know, to plan trips I can't afford for my 4-day weekends), and to get Billy Corgan's solo album. A certain unnamed person has become quite infatuated with The Smashing Pumpkins lately, which has rekindled my own love for the group. Anyway, I had never heard this solo album, so I picked it up and ripped it to my MP3 player. It'll be fun to listen to some new music on the plane overseas.
In the late afternoon, I went with my Mom to have dinner with my grandparents. They live in a senior, assisted-living community about 30 minutes from our house. It was good to see them, but it's really hard to sustain conversations with them. My grandma has horrible Alzheimer's, and my grandpa doesn't hear very well. Needless to say, meaningful interactions are hard to come by. And it was made all the sadder by the fact that this is the last time I'll see them for 6 months. Of course, considering their ages (94 and 91), it was all the sadder given the fact that in 6 months, anything can happen. So, it was nice evening, but somewhat depressing.
When I got back to Libertyville later that evening, I got a call from my friend Bill (who many of you met). He was down from Wisconsin for the day, and he wanted to hang out. I was excited to hear from him, because I hadn't expected to see any of my friends during my time home. We decided to get a movie and a 6-pack and just hang out. We got Corpse Bride and Honey Browns. Both were very good. We caught up for awhile, chatted about everything from literature to hunting, and I had a really good time.
Today, more of the same. I have already called to request a window seat on my LA - Sydney flight, to sign up as a Qantas Frequent Flyer to get miles for my 9000 mile journey, to cancel my cell phone (I'll let you know the new number on my Australian phone when I get it), and to get one last med school recommendation from this doctor I have worked for during the past 2 summers. And, of course, there are always more emails to take care of.
I'm really excited to get to Australia. I feel like I'm in limbo right now. Almost everything at this point is worked out -- I have even been in contact with some researchers at the University of Queensland, and I have already been invited to join 2 labs there to do work for my JP -- and now I just want to get over there and have some sort of routine to my life (not to mention actually be in Australia!).
It sounds like things on campus are going well. I'm sure everyone is starting to get back into the swing of things with classes and activities and what-not. I have heard various stories about Bicker/Sign-in activities, all of which sounded very fun, and I would be lying if I said I weren't a little jealous of these parties. But, hopefully I'll make up for the fun very shortly.
I miss all of you terribly. I hope everyone is doing well. Let's get some dialog going on CI, ok?
Have a great week, and enjoy all of the snow. I'm leaving on Thursday, but I'll be around until then. Maybe I can even talk to some of you before that.
G'day.
-Noah
Every day I check this website, and every day there are no new updates.
This forum was meant for us to stay in touch. And maybe all of you don't have the same amount of free time that I do right now (I would actually seriously doubt it). But in any case, instead of being part of the problem, I'll be part of the solution.
This isn't a blog entry, because I'm not in Australia yet.
So, I left campus on Wednesday afternoon. I didn't really like the idea of going. I'm really excited about studying in Australia, I'm really excited about all of the new opportunities that I'll have and all of the cool people that I'll meet, but it's really hard to leave all of your close friends at once. It's kind of weird how close you can become with people in just 2 years, or even less. But I guess it's the truth.
I got home on Wednesday night after some minor flight problems (my streak of flying with hassle is going strong). It was nice to see the parents and the dogs, but I went to bed pretty quickly. There isn't much to do here. Not even Seaby is around, on account of him transferring to ISU and all. So, sleeping is a popular activity.
Thursday was pretty much a throw-away day. I stayed around the house taking care of some last-minute business before I leave the country. It's actually pretty amazing how much "stuff" there is to do before you go abroad. And stuff besides getting a visa and arranging classes and all that jazz (even though Dean Kanach is a bitch and still hasn't given me an answer about Marine Neurobiology yet). I had limited success in my efforts to accomplish anything. After all, how much can you really expect to get done when the day starts at 1:30?
Friday, I decided to be more productive. I went out and took care of a bunch of errands. The first stop was Best Buy, where I bought a new case for my new camera (I'll be sure to post pictures somewhere-or-other and let you know where to find them once I have some pictures to post) and some new headphones. I also tried to talk to the customer service rep about the fact that I was missing Disc 3 from my Futurama Season 1 DVDs. He was all like "You need a receipt" and I was all like "It was a gift, I don't have a receipt" so he was all like "You can call the corporate office and see what they say" so I was all like "Stop jerking me around, asshole. Where's Disc 3?" and he's all like "Hey, man, it's cool, back off." So naturally I pulled my knife on that fucker. Long story short, I didn't get the Disc, but the replacement is on its way.
After Best Buy, I stopped by a luggage store in search of some travel adapters for my electronic devices. I picked up some sweet-looking Australian adapters with a crazy plug arrangement, so as soon as I land, I can be online and listening to music. Excellent.
Last stop on Friday? Wal-Mart. I will admit that I felt bad going in, what with all of the negative press lately about how they treat their employees and how they drive out small businesses. But I needed some little, cheap, stuff, and it was right near where I was, so I decided to stop in. Mission successful.
Friday night my Mom cooked some delicious salmon. It's nice to have home-cooked food. As much as we talk about the great food that the clubs provide, nothing will ever match up to a dinner made by Mom.
Saturday, I went with my parents into Chicago. My brother and his girlfriend just moved into this VERY nice apartment in Wicker Park, so we went to visit them. Getting into the city was a bitch. Normally the drive only takes about 45 minutes to an hour, but because of the fucking AUTO SHOW, it took twice as long. Who the fuck wants to go look at cars anyway? Drive up to Detroit, rednecks. Anyway, my brother's apartment is well-decorated (his girlfriend works in a furniture store), and it's strange to see him living like a real grown-up. We spent some time walking around his new neighborhood and looking at the chic and independently-owned stores. It was fun, but cold. I packed clothes for Australia when I came home, and it only gets down to about 50 there. So, this Chicago winter is sort of kicking my ass, and I'm always freezing. At night, the 5 of us went to dinner at a new-age Italian place. It was tastey. Good night overall.
Yesterday (Sunday), it was back to errands. This time I hit up the library to get some guidebooks on Australia (you know, to plan trips I can't afford for my 4-day weekends), and to get Billy Corgan's solo album. A certain unnamed person has become quite infatuated with The Smashing Pumpkins lately, which has rekindled my own love for the group. Anyway, I had never heard this solo album, so I picked it up and ripped it to my MP3 player. It'll be fun to listen to some new music on the plane overseas.
In the late afternoon, I went with my Mom to have dinner with my grandparents. They live in a senior, assisted-living community about 30 minutes from our house. It was good to see them, but it's really hard to sustain conversations with them. My grandma has horrible Alzheimer's, and my grandpa doesn't hear very well. Needless to say, meaningful interactions are hard to come by. And it was made all the sadder by the fact that this is the last time I'll see them for 6 months. Of course, considering their ages (94 and 91), it was all the sadder given the fact that in 6 months, anything can happen. So, it was nice evening, but somewhat depressing.
When I got back to Libertyville later that evening, I got a call from my friend Bill (who many of you met). He was down from Wisconsin for the day, and he wanted to hang out. I was excited to hear from him, because I hadn't expected to see any of my friends during my time home. We decided to get a movie and a 6-pack and just hang out. We got Corpse Bride and Honey Browns. Both were very good. We caught up for awhile, chatted about everything from literature to hunting, and I had a really good time.
Today, more of the same. I have already called to request a window seat on my LA - Sydney flight, to sign up as a Qantas Frequent Flyer to get miles for my 9000 mile journey, to cancel my cell phone (I'll let you know the new number on my Australian phone when I get it), and to get one last med school recommendation from this doctor I have worked for during the past 2 summers. And, of course, there are always more emails to take care of.
I'm really excited to get to Australia. I feel like I'm in limbo right now. Almost everything at this point is worked out -- I have even been in contact with some researchers at the University of Queensland, and I have already been invited to join 2 labs there to do work for my JP -- and now I just want to get over there and have some sort of routine to my life (not to mention actually be in Australia!).
It sounds like things on campus are going well. I'm sure everyone is starting to get back into the swing of things with classes and activities and what-not. I have heard various stories about Bicker/Sign-in activities, all of which sounded very fun, and I would be lying if I said I weren't a little jealous of these parties. But, hopefully I'll make up for the fun very shortly.
I miss all of you terribly. I hope everyone is doing well. Let's get some dialog going on CI, ok?
Have a great week, and enjoy all of the snow. I'm leaving on Thursday, but I'll be around until then. Maybe I can even talk to some of you before that.
G'day.
-Noah