The basement of my dorm at the University of Texas has a gameroom. It’s got a pool table, foosball table, treadmills, weights, television, and couches. I scoped it out the first day I got here, and I saw the tables didn’t have any equipment. The management doesn’t allow us to rent out the equipment in the summer. So, being the kind of person I am, I get on eBay and I have a pack of 4 foosballs shipped within two days. It’s a lot of fun to play some foosball after a long day of class.

I got this from a Youtube video, but “foosball” is German for “football,” which is English for “soccer.” And speaking of soccer, Euro 2008 is going on. I really haven’t gotten a chance to actually watch the games, I get the stats from people’s Facebook statuses. The only game I did get a chance to watch was last week’s Netherlands vs. Russia match, where my favorite national team ever got wrecked 3-1. Last night, Russia played Spain, where I heard Russia lost 3-0, I did manage to catch a glimpse of the first Spanish goal by Xavi. I haven’t watched enough to make predictions on who will take the trophy; I’m a big fan of Germany also, but Spain has apparently done well in their group play.

I’m visiting Houston this weekend for about two days. I’ll be getting there today in the afternoon, sit down and have some dinner with the family, then head out and watch “Wanted.” On Saturday, we’re heading up to celebrate a friend’s birthday at his ranch, which is about halfway from Austin to Houston. I should be back in Austin by Sunday afternoon. I haven’t really told anyone about my visiting because I won’t have much time to hang out with anyone, anyway, but it’s just a small visit. I’ll officially be visiting for the entire weekend of July 12-13.

This site still doesn’t bore me. I used to be really obsessive compulsive about the look and feel of my websites, but this look really fits me. I haven’t found anything I really want to change. As for music, that will change often. Another friend of mine told me she was into Feist recently. I remember hearing a song of her’s a long long time ago, it was pretty chill. I decided to check her out, thinking she must have a new album out. And she does. Unfortunately, I also found a remix of her song, “1234″ which suits my music taste a bit more.

Press play and enjoy.

This summer I’m taking three classes: Calculus AB, Chemistry, and Introduction to American Studies. The reason I’m taking Calculus AB over again is because I haven’t received my AP score yet and I might as well get that free A since I know the material already. Calc is my first class, at 10 am, and I wake up at 8:30 to catch a late breakfast at the dorm cafeteria. College classes are just like in the movies. Big stadium style seating, 150 person classes, and a professor talking in the front of the class. They usually don’t care if you get up and leave in the middle, or don’t even show up, but they’d like you to be quiet when they’re teaching. But I have this one guy for American Studies who teaches like it’s high school.

Calculus is easy, for now, limits and introduction to derivatives. I’m taking it easy in that class for now. Listening to the the professor’s points and doing some of the homework questions. The professor is just awesome. She’s got a great sense of humor, and she obviously loves what she does. On top of that, she’s probably a genius, graduated from Cornell, taught at Princeton and U Chicago before coming to Texas. Did I mention this summer will be her thirtieth year here?

Chemistry has always been my weak point, and college chemistry will probably be harder than high school. I took it non Pre-AP chem and I only got a C. Well, maybe it was because I never paid attention in class because everyone else around me wasn’t getting anywhere in life. But that’s okay, I know a bunch of people who can help me. Learning the periodic table over, I’m glad we’re going over stuff like orbitals, because the only thing I know about those is that they get you really cheap travel prices. Or is that orbitz.com… So far, it’s so good. Homework is actually a grade, 5% of our total grade. It’s on the Natural Sciences’ Quest system, which is similar to the UT homework we did in physics back in high school. Maybe they revamped the system, because the worksheets are the same exact format. Submitting answers is a bit different. The irony is just that I never really thought I’d be doing UT homework at UT… I don’t know what made me think that, really. I guess I was hoping college would be the end of homework.

American Studies is two months about the 1893 Columbian Exposition. An entire class about the Chicago World’s Fair. I signed up for this class because I am a huge American history junkie. I wanted to learn more about American culture as a whole. That’s okay, I guess, because for the first week, I thought we’d just be studying the fair for two months. I’m glad we’re learning about the society and culture of the Gilded Age. Too bad the teacher is obsessed with statistics, and the topics are really stuff that we learned in US History. It’s a lot of background about how America started to really begin to show itself on the world stage.

Mondays and Wednesdays I get a break from 1 pm to 2:30 pm to get some late lunch at the dorm cafeteria. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have teacher aide session for calc, that’s when we brush up on Professor Davis’s lectures from the day before and quiz on material we learned the week before. No class on Fridays. Three day weekends every week are awesome. Hoping to manipulate my fall schedule to get it like that.

How are y’all?

Five days since the last update! It’s been three days in class, and I’m already tired of it all. More about that later.

Since the University of Texas has a strict Internet privacy policy, I have not heard the full version of Bun B’s new album, II Trill, released April 2008. I listen to the thirty second samples on various MP3 websites, and from what I hear it’s not too bad. The single for now is “That’s Gangsta” with Sean Kingston. Personally, I hate Sean’s voice, but I like it on this track. “Good II Me” with Mya isn’t too shabby either, haven’t heard from her in a good while. Any 2008 album is not complete without Lupe Fiasco, and the track “Swang On ‘Em” is just about my favorite song of the now. The beat is just so catchy. I’m addicted. Another must-have for 2008 album is Lil Wayne, even though “Damn I’m Cold” is a good track, I’m still not a fan of Lil Wayne. His rhymes aren’t bad. They’re actually really good. It’s just the music he raps over are so bad. Check out the above tracks, especially for those of you in Houston. I just want to blast this kind of music here in Austin so everyone will know where I’m from (not China).

I’ve come a long way from hardcore dirty south rap. I used to look down on rock music, and Linkin Park was the only rock band I listened to at all. I swore by rap music. Then, I slowly got exposed to techno music, like late 90’s early 2000’s techno rave. One day, I met breakbeat music, and I fell in love. Once I got into high school, I opened up my horizons. I found out about 80’s new wave, alternative rock, and metal. I’m not gonna lie, I love all genres of music. Breakbeats was my main genre until about summer where I found trance and techno music. I’m like all out trance head now, with house and Euro and dance, whatever they want to call it. Those of you who have heard the CD’s in my car or at the parties, that’s what I’ve been jamming for the past year.

The University of Texas does a pretty good job of digitizing the entire college system. Everything revolves around their UT Direct website, which a lot of us were exposed to back in physics with Ghosh. The reality is that I’ll be doing those UT homeworks soon for not just physics, but for other classes too. The only downside to the website is the terrible layout. You can’t get anywhere you need to by direct links, you have to do a search using their search engine.

Registration for my alpha category opened this morning at 10 am. I got out of the shower and sat in my underwear in front of the computer waiting for registration to open. I signed up for classes in the air conditioned dorm while everyone else stood out in a long line under the hot sun. I wanted to take Intro to Visual Art, but that’s only for Art History majors… And I’m undeclared, so I had to change that around. I’m signed up for philosophy in place of that class.

A couple months back, I got a contract with Cockrell Engineering; if I get a 2.5 overall GPA, get an A or B in my math class, and log 8 – 10 credit hours in the summer, I’ll be admitted in the fall. Pretty sweet deal right? Since I took Calculus AB my senior year, and AP scores haven’t come out yet, I’m taking Calc AB again in the summer. I’m also taking Chemistry and Intro to American Studies this summer. I want to get into Aerospace Engineering at Cockrell, and it only requires students to take one semester of chemistry. Which is great because chemistry is my worst subject. In the fall, I’ll be in Calculus BC, physics, philosophy, and intro to society. So what does this all this mean? It means that everyone who worked their asses off in high school trying to get that A in every class got boned. The top 10% who got into UT and got into engineering got boned. I graduated top 31%, I’ve gotten my share of C’s (and D’s… and F’s). And I’ll be starting fall ahead or just par with them. Summer program is a small price to pay for having (below) average grades in four years of high school. Those of you reading this who are still in high school, don’t give up! There is still hope! All you really need is a good SAT math score, which is what got me into this contract.

I’m excited about summer classes starting on Monday because it means I’ll be that much closer to getting into engineering. At the end of summer, I should have accumulated 10 semester hours. Along with AP credits and that accounting class I took at HCC, I think I just might be a second year by the time winter break rolls around.

College life is just fun. It’s great to be away from parents, and I can do what I want when I want. Doing laundry can get a bit tedious as the machines take a while, they aren’t as heavy duty as the ones from home. Just bring the laptop downstairs for some wifi, haha. The parents are visiting tomorrow, however. I guess they miss me. I miss my swimming trunks, so they’ll be bringing me that. The Gregory Gym outdoor pool just looks awesome.

Pat’s taken two more pictures of me with food. I’m feeling kind of awkward now that I have five total pics of my mouth wide open ready for some food shoveling. I need to get out and use my camera more often, it’s just sitting idle on my desk day after day.

These past two days have been a blur. There is so much good food in the University of Texas area. Guadalupe St runs along the west edge of campus, and my dorm is right on it. It’s weird how some people pronounce it “gwa-da-loop.” It’s obviously “gwa-da-loo-pei.” There are lot of people here, and it’s not even fall semester yet. Most of the students are summer freshmen, but there are some other upperclassmen here and there. Orientation is a lot of fun, but it’s mostly the exploring that’s fun. The people in the summer freshmen orientation are from all over Texas, from big cities and small towns. It’s great how people from everywhere in this state can relate just because of hook ‘em.

The weather is hella hot, it reminds me a lot of home. At least there’s wind, something we don’t get too often in Houston. But it’s Texas, so there the afternoon temperatures are in the high 90’s. Good thing I packed a bunch of T-shirts and shorts. Doing laundry will probably be a bitch.

As for the food, wow. Mellow Mushroom makes the best pizza I’ve had (yet). There are so many restaurants in the area, but we need to watch how much money we’re spending, haha. The food isn’t cheap, about $10-12 a person. Cafeteria food is just cafeteria food. It’s not great, but it gets you full. My parents made me pack a lot of food, so we’re not gonna starve anytime soon. Passion fruit tapioca from Coco’s Tapioca tastes just like home, but they can’t quite get the tapioca pearls chewy enough. Tyler’s is very close to my dorm, so I’ll be checking it out soon. Also close is an Urban Outfitters and American Apparel.

Life is good so far. I’m ready to meet new people, visit new places, and just have fun. Classes start on Monday.

I’ll leave y’all with some pictures. It’s good food.

Mellow Mushroom’s Mighty Meaty Pizza

Trudy’s Tex-Mex Restaurant and Bar’s Mixed Grill

Kerbey Lane Cafe’s Breakfast Platter

Photos credits to PLu. After the second picture, I thought I should just make my face look like that in every “food” pic.