Hi hello hi again. Been meaning to update some things, because boy do I have things to share. I first want to talk about the terror that is registering for classes. It really is a scarring experience. At least here it is. Especially for freshmen, who have the lowest priority for classes. Many people in college have experienced impacted classes. Those classes that everyone wants to take and that everyone seemingly gets to take, except you. That’s how Communication 200 was for me.
Picking your classes is hard enough. You have to make sure they are classes that will get you the credit you need and then make sure they all fit together well. And of course that they are actually classes you want to take. So I had decided on COM 200, SOC 212, and C LIT 251 for next quarter. I got my SOC and C LIT class… Not so much with COM.
The process of registering is ridiculous. The school says that registration opens at 6 AM, but people in the know say it really opens at 5:55. So you set your alarm for 5:30, invariably hit the snooze button several times and by 5:53 are clicking frantically. Except it’s not that easy. The loading bar creeps along the page and all you can think is “sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppp—WAIT WHILE I’M SITTING HERE HELPLESS TO MY SLOWLY LOADING PAGE OTHER PEOPLE WITH BETTER COMPUTERS OR FASTER INTERNET OR NIMBLER FINGERS ARE STEALLING ALL MY CLASSES”. And then the page loads and opps, you don’t have the write quiz section because there is an add code or a schedule conflict or there’s no more room in the class or maybe the teacher doesn’t like you. It doesn’t really matter, because it doesn’t really register in your mind, you are just blindly clicking, absently typing in numbers, words, times, etc. Just trying to get your bastard computer to load the bastard page so you can get your bastard quiz section. Suffice it to say I was sitting in my dark room at 5:58 going “Uhh… BASTARDS…. Ummm… BASTARDS” under my breath. Finally I came to the conclusion that all the COM quiz sections were closed and I signed up for another class.
A class titled Water and Society. Excuse me? Could we name that class any lamer? I don’t think so. But it was a class my roommate was taking and what she explained sounded less lame then the name of the class suggested. So here it was somewhere in the six o’clock hour and I flopped back in bed to dream of water… and society.
The next day was the last day of registration, and I was bolstered by the false hope that more COM 200 quiz sections were to open. So again I was up at 5:55 clicking madly, this time with my roommate who was having the same “Umm… BASTARDS” reaction to registration that I had the morning before. I clicked half-heartedly on all the COM quiz sections, found them all filled by the swifter digits of other students, and crawled back into bed resigned to my fishery and aquatics class.
Most other freshman where mixed in their stories. Some had nice stories of “slaying the beast that is registration” (as my friend put it), others has semi successful stories like me and my roommate and yet others are stuck taking random classes that they didn’t expect because they had no other options. Luckily, next quarter I will have enough credits to be considered sophomore status which means I will be able to register earlier in the registration period.
The other topic of this blog post is about the FREAK snow storm that hit Seattle this week. So Sunday I was surprised to see snowflakes swirling around my head as I headed to Pike’s Place with a friend. We were excited about the crazy (for Seattle) weather, albeit also very cold. The day at Pike’s Place was spent mostly inside and thus mostly we were warm. It was actually a great day. We had great Chinese food, bought vintage wall art, and bought some of the best fruit ever, including giant apples that I’m sure were grown a stone throws away (this is Washington after all). I came back that Sunday, tired but so happy about the weather and my fun day.
Monday I was woken up by my roommate pulling up the blinds and saying “Look outside!!” It was a winter wonderland outside of our dorm. Unlike the day before the snow was sticking on the ground and lacing everything with gorgeous white powder. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten dressed in that many layers so quickly. I didn’t even know what I was wearing, I just was pulling on layer after layer. I don’t run, on principle. But I flew down the stair case and crashed out into the cold at record speeds. I couldn’t get enough of it. I was in awe. I spent several minutes just standing still watching it come down and frost my hat and shoulders.
There are a few times in people’s lives where they fully revert to being a child. For me it seems to happen quite often. But not like this. This was incredible.
My first class was cancelled so I spent the morning watching the snow fall in my dorm and sleeping. The snow was soooo zen… it just put me to sleep. I went to psych with the snow floating down and after class I got chipotle, donated to Red Cross (almost voluntarily) and bought gloves. I came back to the dorms to find all my friends outside romping in the snow. I joined the romping and we had a hilarious time. After we tired ourselves out three of us went to get coffee and to go shopping for some food and other necessities.
The snow makes things so quiet. The city streets of Seattle that are normally so bustly and loud, with the people and cars and such, were muted by a white blanket. Things moved slower, made less noise, were gentler. As cities go, Seattle really isn’t a rough and tumble place but it seemed frozen in time. Frozen just like the sidewalks. As pleasant as the snow is, when it freezes it becomes treacherous.
I am from California, snow is a thing of ski trips and Christmas time movies. It’s a relatively foreign concept to Seattle too, but for me, I had very little resources to deal with frozen sidewalks. Coming home from coffee, I slipped on the icy sidewalks. I wish I could say I ate shit and laughed it off. Not so. I caught myself and twisted my knee in a weird way. Too make a long story short I dislocated my knee and ended up in the hospital for the evening with my roommate. She was my saving grace, really. She took care of me as I went from variations of shock to crying to stony bravery and every reaction in between. I got x-rayed, popped back into place, and prescribed some very strong pain killers (so if none of this makes sense it’s not me, it’s the drugs).
To end this post I will share a short anecdote from my hospital adventure. I was given an IV of something crazy powerful for pain. It hit me surprisingly fast, and I went from talking at my usual fast pace (made faster by adrenaline and my excruciating pain) to a slow slurrrrrr, mid sentence. After that I was wheeled to radiology to get my knee x-rayed. As the radiologist was setting up the machine, he was asking me questions. The last question he had for me was “Is there any chance that you are pregnant?” In my slurry, medicine induced stupor I replied “Nah, my love life isn’t that great…” So that’s my little story. He laughed awkwardly and kind of looked around like he didn’t know how to react. Well, Carey the radiologist man, at least you got your answer.
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